Renée Blacken to share solo rowing journey at Hulls and Hops Speaker Series

MOULTONBOROUGH — Endurance athlete, adventurer, trauma recovery advocate, and mother Renée Blacken will take the stage at the New Hampshire Boat Museum for its Hulls and Hops Speaker Series on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

In her talk, Blacken will chronicle her 3,200-mile solo row across the Atlantic Ocean — a 65-day journey undertaken, alone, in a 6-meter wooden rowboat.

“I hope my story will make people wonder, ‘What's my ocean?’” Blacken said. “I want to help people realize that we all have the extraordinary in us. What would you do if you dream big?”

On Jan. 24, Blacken set out from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands in a rowboat named Reset. Without a chase boat or resupply, she rowed for 65 days before arriving in Antigua in the Caribbean. At age 43, the Bethlehem resident became the oldest American woman to complete a solo Atlantic row, and the first American and first solo female to participate in The Atlantic Dash.

Blacken first encountered ocean rowing in 2017, when she read the book "Rowing the Atlantic" as a newly single mom working at a boarding school.

“At that point, rowing an ocean was someone else's story, someone else's journey,” she recalled.

The idea reawakened in the winter of 2023, when she started to address the effects of complex trauma she had carried her entire life.

“I have been through a lot of stuff in my life, mental and physical health — inexplicable stuff going on in my body,” she said. “I realized some things I was dealing with were repercussions of complex trauma. I found trauma recovery programs that helped shift my story, my narrative about who I am, what I contribute to the world.”

A documentary about pioneering ocean rower Roz Savage — “a woman at a crossroads who needed to do something wild and big” — finally set her plans in motion.

“I think we can spend a lot of time waiting until we're smarter, stronger, healthier,” Blacken said. “I was done waiting for a different version of myself to show up.”

The name of the event she entered, The Atlantic Dash, comes from Linda Ellis's poem ‘The Dash,’ which refers to the small mark between the dates on a tombstone.

“The question becomes, what are you going to do with it?” Blacken asked.

Not a race but an organized crossing built on the power of human potential, ‘The Dash’ has welcomed rowers with PTSD, cystic fibrosis, Parkinson’s Disease, and other challenges.

“The idea is that our diagnoses aren't the sum total of who we are, and don't have to be limitations,” Blacken said.

Blacken was the only solo rower among five boats that departed together in the Dash's fourth year, and once on the water, she never saw the other crews again until she reached Antigua in the Caribbean. Sleep was elusive, and swells reached 3.5 meters in the roughest stretches.

She said the most frightening moment came when she first had to enter the ocean alone to clean the hull.

“I felt super safe on the boat the entire time,” she said. “The idea of getting off it was pretty terrifying. Day to day, it was an emotional rollercoaster. You work through it, then get hit by it again.”

The preparation spanned two years and drew on the guidance of veteran UK-based ocean rower Dawn Smith, who is currently completing her seventh ocean crossing.

Alongside the row, Blacken founded and runs the New Hampshire nonprofit Outdoor Adventuring for Good, whose mission is to raise awareness of, increase access to, and provide funding for trauma recovery programs that integrate mind and body healing in northern New Hampshire. Rowing as Team fOARtysomething, she raised more than $17,000, which she has reinvested into her community, supporting survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault and equine therapy programs for active military and veterans.

She has also received a commendation from NH Gov. Kelly Ayotte and was named a Granite Stater of the Month by U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan. 

Sponsored by Amoskeag Beverages, Hulls and Hops Speaker Series with Renée Blacken takes place on Wednesday, Sept. 9, from 7 to 9 p.m. at NHBM’s Moultonborough campus. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

To learn more or purchase tickets, visit nhbm.org.