Rowers' goal: Atlantic oar bust

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Click on each thumbnail for a print quality image. Photos by Tom Campbell.

Kessans and Kohl will store extra sets of oars onboard the "American Fire" in case any break or get swept overboard.		Kessans (right) and Emily Kohl were teammates on the Purdue University crew.
Kessans (left) and Kohl designed T-shirts to commemorate their venture and help defray expenses.		Rather than buy a boat kit and build it from scratch, Kessans (right) and Kohl bought a boat that had already been across the Atlantic in the Woodvale race.
Kohl (on boat) and Kessans got plenty of help scraping old decals off the boat this summer. Purdue rowing teammates Alecia Certain (bottom) and Jenny Young (top) and Kessans' grandmother, Betty, all pitched in to get the boat ship shape.		For most of the race, only one of the teammates will row (in two hour shifts) while the other rests.
Tim Kessans photographs his daughter, Sarah, as she works the boat through Eagle Creek near Indianapolis this summer.		With the solar panel in place to collect the sun's energy, Kessans is barely able to see over the back of the "American Fire."
During a training run in Eagle Creek, many curious people pulled alongside the "American Fire" for a closer look.		Outside of the footlocks and sliding seats, the "American Fire" bears little resemblance to the skulls Kohl and Kessans rowed together at Purdue.
Sarah and her grandfather, Ralph Kessans, posed for a photo at Eagle Creek Park near Indianapolis this summer.		Kessans was more comfortable rowing the boat than she was towing it behind a truck for the first time.