The five-member RangeOars Row team after completing their journey. (RangeOars Row)
Former Army Ranger Jere Hartman said he was soaking his aching hands in ice water.
Hartman, a 49-year-old Chattanooga, Tenn., fitness instructor, had just completed a 2,800-mile Pacific Ocean journey in a rowboat — which explains the sore hands. For comparison, that’s about the distance between New York City and Los Angeles.
“I’m beat up, man,” Hartman said in a telephone interview from Hawaii with the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “I’m having grip issues.”
Hartman said that after the race — billed as the World’s Toughest Rowing Race — his hands were nearly frozen into fists, and his mind was so foggy at one point during the race that he had trouble counting on his fingers.
To say the trip was arduous is an understatement.
On July 11, Hartman and four other retired military men, all former Army special operators, completed the rowing race from Monterey, Calif., to Hanalei, a town on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Along the way, the five rowers braved 40-foot waves, debilitating fatigue and mind-numbing tedium.
The rest of the crew were: Roy Emerson, the skipper; Michael Kendall; Chris Farrington; and J.T. Mullinax.
Hartman said he had to consume so many calories that some days he merely shoved candy bars and nuts into his mouth.
Rowing two-hour shifts on-and-off nearly continuously for more than a month, it took the five-man crew 35 days, 6 hours and 59 minutes to cover the distance. They broke a previous world record, but they finished third overall.
The vets are part of a unit called the RangeOars Row team. The World’s Toughest Row is an ongoing series of races on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that test the mental strength and endurance of participants.
The Range-Oar team was edged out of second place in the California-to- Hawaii race by a younger team. A lighter, four-man boat finished in first place, several days ahead of the others. There were four boats total in the race.
As tired as he is — body and soul — Hartman said he has already committed to crossing the Atlantic from Spain to the Caribbean Island of Antigua in a World’s Toughest Row race scheduled for 2027.
Hartman said while the Pacific race that began in June was grueling, it also inspired him and accomplished the group’s mission to raise awareness about veterans with mental health struggles. Hartman, who was deployed twice during the Iraq War, has said he’s had eight military associates who have died by suicide over the years.
“This has definitely been therapeutic for me,” Hartman said after the race. “It definitely made me stronger. ... Over the years, our military guys have beat themselves down, like we are not worth it. ... I was forced to retire. You feel like a cow put out to pasture.”
“(The race) changed me,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting (other) veterans on the water.”
At one point in the Pacific journey, Hartman said he thought his race might be over for him due to a tooth infection — although it would have taken days for someone to rescue him off the boat.
“I caught a nasty infection on the drive out there (to California),” he said. “My whole face was swollen up. ... I almost didn’t go.”
At one point his body became super-heated from fever, and he had to take 24 hours off from his rowing rotation to rest, he said.
Other periods of the race were euphoric, he said. There were times when he would let his emotions pour out. He said he would live in the moment and notice little things.
“I broke things down into little segments,” he said. “If I saw an amazing sunset, I would take in the moment.
“It changed my life,” he said. “I’m happy.
Already, other vets have begun reaching out to thank Hartman and the other rowers for championing their cause, he said.
Now that he’s home in Chattanooga, he said he is eager to share the experience by speaking to groups. He can be reached on Instagram at jere_hartman297.
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