HURRICANE LENNY THREATENS

AMERICAN ROWER ALONE IN ATLANTIC OCEAN

ATLANTIC OCEAN ? (November 16, 1999) ? Tori Murden, an American rower attempting a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, is expected to encounter extreme weather this week as Hurricane Lenny strengthens and moves toward her position 425 miles from Guadeloupe.

Sustained winds had increased to 100 mph, upgrading Lenny to a Category 2 hurricane, the second of five levels as measured by the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC). 

Hurricane Lenny was 900 miles west of Murden and heading toward her at 16 mph. According to Dane Clark, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Hurricane Lenny is especially unpredictable. 

?Hurricanes never move east this time of year,? Clark said.  ?Yet Lenny is on an eastward track.?  The NHC this morning predicted Lenny would turn to the northeast by Wednesday, missing Murden?s position by as much as 400 miles.

Regardless of Lenny?s ultimate path, the weather system prohibits Murden?s advance toward her goal of becoming the world?s first woman and only American to row solo across an ocean.  The trans-Atlantic crossing is without aid of wind or sail, without a motorized device of any kind and without support of an escort vessel.  Murden has been alone at sea for 65 days.

Murden, 36, was making steady westward progress in her 23-foot rowboat, the American Pearl.   She was targeting a landing in Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles around the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday when the tropical depression developed into a storm and then evolved into a hurricane.

At 1600 GMT today (11 a.m. EST), the NHC issued hurricane watches for islands north of Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles, including Antigua and Barbuda.

Murden?s tracking team in Louisville, Ky., reported that the heavy sea anchors on the American Pearl have helped stabilize her position about 425 miles east of Guadeloupe.  Meanwhile, technical support teams in the U.S. and France are hoping Murden can continue to hold her position, ride out the storm, and then make new plans for arriving in the Lesser Antilles in late November or early December.

Murden was reportedly ?dejected? by news of the bad weather, but remained upbeat and spent the morning, under sunny skies, preparing for the hurricane.  Through Sunday she had rowed 2,430 miles and even commented that ?I cannot believe my good fortune.? 

But Murden knows the peril of hurricanes.  Last year, the rower was rescued at sea after surviving back-to-back strikes by Hurricane Bonnie and Hurricane Danielle.  She capsized more than 20 times, ending with a violent end-over-end ?pitchpole? that bruised her ribs and dislocated her shoulder.

Murden was rescued by a merchant vessel after spending 85 days alone at sea, a world record for a woman solo rower. 

Murden?s east to west solo row began Sept. 13, 1999 when she departed Tenerife, the Canary Islands on her self-built, 23-foot custom rowboat.

The effort is sponsored by Sector Sport Watches, No Limits? Sports & Tech Wear, Fontana Candida Italian Wines and Fifth Third Bank of Louisville.  Murden is a member of the Sector No Limits? Team, an elite group of international athletes who dare test and transcend the outer limits of human potential.

Murden?s progress, message logs and related information is available at www.adept.net/americanpearl.com.  Information on Murden, world records and the history of solo rowers is accessed at www.oceanrowing.com.

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16 November 1999

Contact:           Julie Wellik, Kevin Plagman and Dana Ziegler

                        Communications West

                        Phone               415-863-7220

                        Fax                  415-621-2907

                        E-mail              comwest@comwest.com