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Canadian rower says she’s first North American to cross North Atlantic alone

A Canadian rower says she has become the first North American to complete a solo journey across the churning seas of the treacherous North Atlantic.
Mylene Paquette
Quebec rower Mylene Paquette celebrates as she arrives in Lorient

MONTREAL — A Canadian rower says she has become the first North American to complete a solo journey across the churning seas of the treacherous North Atlantic.

Mylene Paquette reached the shores of France on Tuesday after a 5,000-kilometre voyage from Halifax, a four-month odyssey that saw her overcome the volatility of nearly a dozen storms, the power of 12-metre-high swells and the shock of capsizing 10 times.

Paquette, however, still didn’t find a way to conquer her fear of water.

“I’m scared in the pool and in a big bath,” the Montrealer told reporters on a conference call shortly after landing in the French port city of Lorient.

“I don’t really understand what I’m scared of. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching too much Jaws when I was younger?”

Paquette, 35, said her solo rowing trip was just the 13th successful mission of its kind across the North Atlantic out of about 35 attempts. Three solo rowers were lost at sea during those unsuccessful tries, according to Oceanrowing.com.