Rowing into the Son by Jordan Hanssen
Best4Boats Recommends
What better way to meet an author than in a dive bar? Jordan Hanssen, author of Rowing into the Son: Four Young Men Crossing the North Atlantic (published by Mountaineers Books, 2012) and I had crossed paths before in Seattle, but I consider the time we really met to be a few weeks ago at Ballard’s The Sloop Tavern (if ya know, ya know). We inevitably drank a few too many, chitchatting about life with often nautical themes mano y mano. When we parted ways, I was a new owner of a copy of his book about the epic, Guinness World Record setting transatlantic row he captained. The team of four American men were the first to row unassisted from the mainland of the USA to the mainland of England in 2006.
After our beer and bonding session, I sat down and read Jordan’s book, Rowing into the Son which I can now recommend as a great read. “Great” is a vague, umbrella descriptor, but I mean the term as it’s meant to be used. Grand. Large in scope. Positive. Rowing into the Son is all these things, yet also somehow deeply rooted as a very personal, human story that likes to bring a magnifying glass to the important little details. Elements of memoir, with a focus on Hanssen’s biological father’s tragic and untimely death, and what can only be described as a deep-seated perceptiveness in everything around him—history, marine life, seakeeping and boatbuilding, the inner workings of people around him, and more—are interwoven with the earnestly reconstructed, sometimes day-by-day account of the often-brutal, crotch rot plagued experience.
This article is as spoiler-free as possible, but Hanssen utilizes some non-chronological storytelling in the form of journal entry-style vignettes alongside the main narrative. Those initial heady days of getting the idea, assembling the dream rowing team of four Ocean’s Eleven-style, and actually getting the 29-foot Woodvale boat leads into optimism of the early days and then the raw suffering of the later weeks. There are all kinds of surprise guest star appearances, especially for those of the Pacific Northwest maritime scene. For example, Bob Perry of sailboat design fame (ever heard of a Valiant 40?) serendipitously appears to save them from a crappy rudder by making new, proper oceangoing ones. Hanssen clearly, perhaps painstakingly, recreates the events of the saga, piecing together scenes from hundreds (thousands?) of hours of video and other primary sources. Perhaps purely literary types might feel bogged down by these details, but I think Hanssen is earnestly serving as a reliable witness to his little slice of history. There is nobility in that.
One aspect of Hanssen’s writing I really appreciate is his breadth of knowledge. A section about the nitty gritty details of who talked to who may easily flow into reflecting on a scene from The Odyssey or interesting history. I had no idea the fastest Atlantic rowing record was set by two Norwegians George Harbo and Frank Samuelson in 1896 (55 days, only to be broken in 2010 after Hanssen’s row). They left from Manhattan Island, so Hanssen’s row from mainland to mainland is technically a different tier. A visitation of curious pilot whales prompts a musing on their deep sea, squid slaying ways. The lads are surrounded by what appears to be clusters of used condoms—enter interesting information about salps, the weird organisms at which they are looking. Geology of the seafloor below is examined. These are not idle diatribes; they bind what could’ve been another too-common “me”-moir into the broader universe. There’s an element of Arctic Dreams-style Barry Lopez in Hanssen, which is about as high a praise as I can give as a Lopez fan.
Another strong element of Rowing into the Son is the nature of masculinity, particularly intermale bonds. Hanssen’s deceased father looms large over the story, sometimes almost like Mufasa over Simba in the Lion King. The boat even bears his father’s name: James Robert Hanssen. Additionally, much of the story is naturally about the four men on the boat. The interactions between the rowers are often warm and bawdy, but one major logistical mistake from a crewmember turns extremely ugly. There’s a lot of vulnerability and humility in Hanssen’s prose. We’re not in the mind of a big alpha dog who conquered the world and is here to boast about it—this is a truth-seeking storyteller who seems to want to relate what really happened. If you’re a man’s man, you’ll chuckle or shake your head at many of the interactions as all-too relatable. If you’re curious about how the heck guys work, especially when no one is looking, Hanssen gives you a peek behind the curtain.
All in all, I highly recommend Rowing into the Son as a great book, especially for fans of adventure memoirs, aquatic themes, and personal journeys. The hit Wild by Cheryl Strayed comes to mind, but where that work is a feminine-coded, transformative hike of the Pacific Crest Trail where she seeks to heal from the death of her mother, this is a masculine-coded row across the Atlantic that lays Hanssen’s father’s spirit to rest. Vital, reflective, and sensitive, Rowing into the Son should be read by more people.
This quote of Athena to Odysseus’ son Telemachus opens and closes the book, “Fit out a ship with twenty oars, the best in sight, sail in quest of news of your long-lost father.” Where Hanssen takes this quote extremely literally with his story, perhaps we all should fit out our ships and seek news of our long-lost fathers in a more metaphorical sense—whatever that means to our lives.
Well done, Jordan Hanssen. Next round is on me.
The book Rowing into the Son by Jordan Hanssen is available printed and in audio. For signed copies direct from the author visit Jordan’s website. The book is also offered worldwide by online book retailers and at select book stores.
A movie based on Rowing into the Son is coming out soon. More info about the movie, book, and Jordan is available at https://www.jordanhanssen.com
Jordan can be found on Facebook, Substack, Linked In and Instagram @jordanhanssen.
