NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN – (August 6, 1998) – Tori Murden, the

35-year-old city government employee from Louisville, Ky., is closing in on the

half-way mark in her quest to become the first woman to row the North Atlantic Ocean solo and unsupported. No American, man or woman, has accomplished the feat.

Murden, who has been at sea 53 days, has rowed 1,682 nautical miles on a northeast course toward Europe. She has 1,759 nautical miles remaining to reach her target landfall of Brest, France. According to Murden’s land-based technical team, she should arrive at the official half-way point in the next several days, barring a contrary shift in weather or currents.

Since departing North Carolina June 14, Murden has averaged nearly 32 nautical miles of progress each day. Her row attempt has unfolded mostly according to plan. For the first one-third of her journey, she followed the Gulf Stream – a favorable two-knot current that helped Murden propel her 23-foot rowboat, the sector no limits™ American Pearl, at a brisk clip.

The Gulf Stream, however, does not follow a straight line to Europe. Every mile Murden now rows is without aid of a complimentary current. Technical experts monitoring the row say the second half of Murden’s odyssey will be more formidable for the solo rower, even though she has already capsized twice.

"Tori will be subjected to the usual expected storms at this time of year, so she’ll be put to the test. We expect her progress to be slowed by the weather," said Gerard d’Aboville, the only person to have rowed solo across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. D’Aboville, a member of the Sector No Limits Team™, is Murden’s chief technical advisor.

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Indeed, Murden’s progress over the past two weeks supports d’Aboville’s assessment of prevailing weather and currents in the North Atlantic. Murden’s mileage was cut nearly in half from week six to week seven – she logged 181 nautical miles her sixth week at sea, compared to 97 completed her seventh week. During week seven, on July 28 & 29, headwinds pushed her backward 29 miles. Murden’s daily positions are received via an Argos satellite transmitter affixed to her rowboat.

Friends and supporters worldwide are following Murden mile-by-mile on the Internet at www.oceanrowing.com. Several groups of Murden loyalists are hosting gatherings in the Louisville area to celebrate Murden reaching the half-way point. One group is commemorating the occasion with a full moon camp fire in the Jefferson County Memorial Forest.

Murden’s 3,300-nautical mile solo row is sponsored by Sector Sport Watches, a company that supports extreme athletes and adventurers worldwide. Murden is the newest member of the Sector "no limits"™ Team, a group of individuals who test the outer limits of human endurance.

Murden is pulling nearly 1,500 pounds of boat, food and technical gear as she rows 10 hours each day west to east across the North Atlantic. Only five rowers – all men – have completed the west to east crossing.

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06 August 1998

Contact: Julie Wellik, Susan Barnes or Shannon Matus

Communications West

1426 Eighteenth Street, San Francisco, Calif. 94107

Telephone: 415-863-7220 Fax: 415-621-2907

E-mail: jwellik@comwest.com

sbarnes@comwest.com

smatus@comwest.com