“It’s good to be back on land,” he said. “You’re excited to go hug your parents, your sister and your family, but you have to take it a little slower than you want because you haven’t got your land legs back.”
Pagano and Caitlin Miller, both University of Nebraska-Lincoln alums and former Husker club crew members, finished the nearly 3,000-nautical mile journey from the Canary Islands to Antigua on a sunny Tuesday morning.
The “Cranial Quest: Rowing for a Change” team completed the Transatlantic race in 58 days, five hours and six minutes, making them the youngest team to ever finish the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.
Pagano and Miller, the only male-female team in this year’s race, finished 17th overall. “We’re still on an emotional high,” Pagano said a few hours later by telephone from Antigua.
He and Miller were able to overcome the challenges of rowing across the Atlantic by keeping each other occupied and upbeat.
“We were fortunate nothing went wrong with our boat and we didn’t have any injuries,” Pagano said. “We had everything going for us.” Still, 58 days away from civilization and at the mercy of the elements can take a toll.
One three-day period kept Pagano and Miller inside the two small cabins on their boat while winds and the current virtually kept them in place.
The Cranial Quest boat usually traveled 6 to 8 miles every three hours, but it went a single mile over those three days, he said. "You just kind of have to hunker down in the cabins and wait it out until the sea and winds are in your favor,” he said. “Rowing is your means to get to the other side, and while it’s physical work, when you’re stuck in the cabin you’re actually really excited to go outside and row.”
Competing to raise awareness of ALS and and money for research, Pagano said he hopes the Cranial Quest team accomplished more than completing the race.
“My grandfather died in 2003 and he was my motivation and inspiration to do this,” he said. “It was also for every other family and individual who has succumbed to the disease or been affected by it. I know how that feels and it’s not a good feeling.
“I understand the amount of money and awareness we raised is not going to change things overnight, but it puts us higher than we were originally and that’s always a good thing.”
Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS.
Editors Note: Caitlin Miller is a recent graduate of the School of Natural Resources Environmental Restoration Science Program. This story appears courtesy of the writer and the Lincoln Journal Star.
More details at: http://journalstar.com/news/local/unl-alums-finish-atlantic-challenge/article_14e64a7f-99c2-544b-9d7c-daacead47799.html