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导读：年轻的美国女运动员Baumstein计划独自划船横渡太平洋，从而成为第一位独自划船横渡太平洋的女性。
Baumstein is an athlete from Orlando， Florida. She waited for weeks to set out in her custom-designed rowboat from Choshi. It is a Japanese port east of Tokyo. She is headed for San Francisco. With a few last-minute adjustments to her supplies and a brief call to her parents， she rowed out of the marina on June 7. She hopes to finish the 6，000-mile journey by late September. If she does， she would become the first woman to row alone across the Pacific.
Only three other rowboats have made the journey. No woman has ever done it alone.
Baumstein has already rowed the Atlantic to the Caribbean. The 29-year-old has a pretty clear idea of what all those weeks at sea will be like. With clear skies， she may get the peaceful， starry night she was hoping for.
Baumstein’s rowboat is named the “Icha”. That is short for an Okinawan phrase meaning “once we meet we’re family”. It is a big green， 23-foot boat that weighs less than 660 pounds. It has no motor or sail.
When the weather allows， she plans to row 14-16 hours a day. She will break her sleep to check her location. She hopes to stay within the 62-mile-wide Kuroshio current. It arcs across the Pacific.
Baumstein rowed competitively in high school. She also rowed at the University of Wisconsin. She was stopped to take part in competitions by a bad car accident. After recovering， she joined three men in rowing the mid-Atlantic from the Canary Islands to Barbados. That was in January 2012. She has rowed a boat from Washington state to Alaska. And she has bicycled 1，800 miles from the Mexican border to Seattle.
Baumstein is not having a boat follow her for support. The cost would have been very expensive. But she has a team providing support far away from shore by means of satellite phone and GPS.
As she travels， equipment on her boat will take samples and measure water conditions. The data may help understand climate change and other phenomena. A weather device in the U.S. is helping her keep her way on conditions. She expects to know at least 24 hours before she might need to tie everything down， adjust the ballast in her boat and take cover. She will eat and sleep in a tiny cabin.
But even without extreme weather， Baumstein knows to expect plenty of hardship. The worst， she says， are moonless nights. That’s when she can’t tell where the waves are coming from. Or when they will smash into her.Whatever the conditions， she knows she’ll be wet.
Vocabulary
marina n. 小船坞
current n. 水流
arc v. 按弧形轨迹行进
data n. 数据
phenomena n. （天文）现象
device n. 仪器
ballast n.（船中保持平衡的）压舱物
（Do you think she will succeed？ Tell us your reasons.）
Baumstein is an athlete from Orlando， Florida. She waited for weeks to set out in her custom-designed rowboat from Choshi. It is a Japanese port east of Tokyo. She is headed for San Francisco. With a few last-minute adjustments to her supplies and a brief call to her parents， she rowed out of the marina on June 7. She hopes to finish the 6，000-mile journey by late September. If she does， she would become the first woman to row alone across the Pacific.
Only three other rowboats have made the journey. No woman has ever done it alone.
Baumstein has already rowed the Atlantic to the Caribbean. The 29-year-old has a pretty clear idea of what all those weeks at sea will be like. With clear skies， she may get the peaceful， starry night she was hoping for.
Baumstein’s rowboat is named the “Icha”. That is short for an Okinawan phrase meaning “once we meet we’re family”. It is a big green， 23-foot boat that weighs less than 660 pounds. It has no motor or sail.
When the weather allows， she plans to row 14-16 hours a day. She will break her sleep to check her location. She hopes to stay within the 62-mile-wide Kuroshio current. It arcs across the Pacific.
Baumstein rowed competitively in high school. She also rowed at the University of Wisconsin. She was stopped to take part in competitions by a bad car accident. After recovering， she joined three men in rowing the mid-Atlantic from the Canary Islands to Barbados. That was in January 2012. She has rowed a boat from Washington state to Alaska. And she has bicycled 1，800 miles from the Mexican border to Seattle.
Baumstein is not having a boat follow her for support. The cost would have been very expensive. But she has a team providing support far away from shore by means of satellite phone and GPS.
As she travels， equipment on her boat will take samples and measure water conditions. The data may help understand climate change and other phenomena. A weather device in the U.S. is helping her keep her way on conditions. She expects to know at least 24 hours before she might need to tie everything down， adjust the ballast in her boat and take cover. She will eat and sleep in a tiny cabin.
But even without extreme weather， Baumstein knows to expect plenty of hardship. The worst， she says， are moonless nights. That’s when she can’t tell where the waves are coming from. Or when they will smash into her.Whatever the conditions， she knows she’ll be wet.
Vocabulary
marina n. 小船坞
current n. 水流
arc v. 按弧形轨迹行进
data n. 数据
phenomena n. （天文）现象
device n. 仪器
ballast n.（船中保持平衡的）压舱物
（Do you think she will succeed？ Tell us your reasons.）