At about 7 p.m. this evening Angela Madsen is scheduled to row her 20-foot boat, “Spirit of Orlando,” past the Seal Beach Pier, having left from the Pete Archer Rowing center in Long Beach about an hour before.
Weather permitting, Madsen, a paraplegic, will then turn her mono hull ocean rowing vessel out toward the great blue Pacific on an approximately 2,560 mile route from California to Hawaii.
The grueling personal competition is both a tribute row to honor our fallen service men and women and a benefit to raise funds so the California Adaptive Rowing program, which Madsen founded more than 20 years ago, may purchase new equipment.
“If I can’t get some new boats, we will just have to close our doors,” Madsen said.
For two decades Madsen’s program has helped people with all kinds of afflictions have the opportunity to be able to enjoy the magic of the sea.
“Rowing is such a phenomenal thing,” Madsen said. “We’ve had autistic kids, people with Alzheimers, amputees, the visually impaired and spinal cord injuries. We have a lot at stake in trying to get new equipment and get these people out on the water. It’s just fantastic for rehab and recreation.”
Madsen founded the program: The California Adaptive Rowing Program, in 1998 and as a certified 501c non-profit in 1999. Madsen’s trip to the 2014 Trans-Pacific Ultimate Rowing Challenge, will take an estimated 50 to 60 days at sea.
In September of 1993, at the age of 33, Madsen was injured during a practice as a member of the Women’s All-Marine Corps Basketball team.
The details are outlined in her autobiographical book: “Rowing Against the Wind.”
“Someone tripped me; I fell forward, hit the floor and someone landed on top of my back. The paralysis and pain was immediate and shot through my entire body … ”
Madsen underwent surgery. Her goal was to be walking and surfing within one year, but the surgery went wrong, leaving her a diagnosed paraplegic.
She lost everything—her job, home and wound up living on the streets of Orange County, just steps from Disneyland.
Through her determination, Madsen pulled herself and her life together. She had a will to survive.
“It’s all about being positive,” she said. “We are all responsible for our own destiny. We can all get blown off course after shipping out. You can try to find your way back on course, or you can drift, or you can go somewhere. I chose to go somewhere.”
Madsen has gone a lot of places. She has crossed the Indian Ocean and circumnavigated Great Britain in a rowboat.
She made an earlier failed attempt to row to Hawaii from California.
“I just got my butt kicked due to some very rough weather,” she said.
“This is attempt number two,” she said.
Through her many challenges, Madsen has turned her life around. Today, she holds six Guinness World Records for ocean rowing and is a champion paraplegic.
She set a paraolympian record and won a bronze medal in the shot put in London in 2012.
She is the mother of one, grandmother of three, and lives with her wife in Long Beach and Bakersfield.
Her book: “Rowing Against the Wind,” is available through most retail and online booksellers.
To donate to her California Adaptive Rowing Program, mail a check to CARP (California Adaptive Rowing Program), 3350 E. Seventh St., #231, Long Beach, CA 90804.
Madsen said she has been able to return to surfing thanks to the help and encouragement of her long-time friend Michael Pless, founder of M&M Surfing School in Seal Beach. To follow her current journey to Hawaii, visit Rowoflife.com or visit Facebook.commiltaryveteranstributerow.
