Interview with Jacob Adoram Hendrickson on Resilience and How He Rowed His Boat Across the Pacific Ocean from Washington State to Australia By Himself Over 11 Months

Jacob Adoram Hendrickson is the Guinness World Record holder of
the longest non-stop solo row across an ocean. He is an Eagle
Scout who spent his high school years running track and
cross-country, and playing the saxophone in both marching and
symphonic band. 


He attended the United States Air Force Academy and spent more
than a decade as a military aviator, flying fighter jets
extensively throughout the Northern Hemisphere, to include over
170 combat missions.  As part of military training, he
became very familiar with land and water survival, and enjoyed
the challenges associated with overcoming adversity. 


An avid traveler, Jacob has explored over 40 countries. He
holds the world record for the longest non-stop time spent rowing
solo across an ocean of nearly 336 days. He spent eleven months
traveling from Washington state to Australia in a custom made
boat he called Emerson. He started on July 7, 2018 and arrived in
Queensland, Australia the following June (June 8, 2019).


He packed a year worth of food into the boat and spent a lot of
time thinking and rowing. He rowed 12 to 16 hours every day and
traveled 7,145 miles across the open Pacific Ocean.


He encountered waves that were the size of buildings, the
monotony of rowing day after day for months, the pain and
exhaustion of rowing to get back on track when the wind, storms,
and rain drove him off course.


He spent 11 months at sea without stopping, without assistance,
with no other person with him at all, as far from land as it is
possible to be on this planet.


I met Jacob recently as he has been investigating the PMI
franchise and I thought you would enjoy our conversation about
his experience rowing across the Pacific Ocean as it relates to
the persistence it takes to succeed in starting your own
business. It’s an incredible story and I’m glad that he took the
time to talk with us about this experience and the lessons he
learned from it. I’ve been inspired by his story and I hope you
enjoy our conversation.