Katie Spotz took 70 days to row 2,817 miles from west Africa to Guyana.
- Katie Spotz, an Ohio native, became the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic.
- She is also the first American to manage the feat.
- Spotz said sleep deprivation was the hardest part of the trip.
At just 22 years old, Katie Spotz on Sunday became the youngest person and only American to have rowed solo across the Atlantic.
It was mission accomplished for Spotz who arrived in Guyana, on South America's northeastern shoulder, Sunday afternoon local time after a bold 2,817-mile journey from west Africa that took her 70 days, five hours and 22 minutes to complete.
The Ohio native told journalists sleep-deprivation was a major problem as she worked to complete the massive journey, which began in Dakar, Senegal.
"It was very difficult to sleep on the boat so I had some serious sleep-deprivation and rowing 10 hours is difficult enough and having to do that with little sleep was a real challenge, so that was tough," she said.
Spotz also had to deal with sores, rashes and blisters, but said the discomforts "were nothing serious."
Arriving in Guyana she was treated to watermelon, her first fresh food for more than two months, having relied on dehydrated meals and energy bars for nutrition during her trip.
Despite a last-minute problem -- her tracking device caught fire just 50 nautical miles away from the finish line forcing her to put it out with an onboard fire extinguisher -- Spotz said she encountered few difficulties during the trip.
The cost of Spotz's trip was covered by a number of sponsors and she managed to raise $84,510 from donors for the Blue Water Run Foundation, a San Francisco-based group dedicated to delivering safe and clean drinking water to communities worldwide.
As she rowed across the Atlantic, Spotz's location was constantly updated via satellite. She kept in touch with her family, emailing home once a week and calling her mother on her birthday.
She posted pictures from her trip on the website www.rowforwater.com, treating followers to snapshots of passing dolphins and other sea life.
