S6E17 - Oceans of Purpose: How Jordan Hanssen Found Meaning Through Rowing

2025-08-24

Like plenty of other college rowers, Jordan Hanssen felt he had more to prove on the water. So after graduation he committed to training with a goal of making the National Team. But when he spotted a flier in the boathouse challenging rowers to take on an ocean, the trajectory of his rowing career – and life – changed completely. We sat down with Jordan to talk about his 2006 World Record-setting Atlantic row, and a second Atlantic crossing that ended with a capsized boat in the Bermuda Triangle. But the story of the boat – named for his late father and outfitted with scientific instruments and satell...

We sat down with Jordan to talk about his 2006 World Record-setting Atlantic row, and a second Atlantic crossing that ended with a capsized boat in the Bermuda Triangle. But the story of the boat – named for his late father and outfitted with scientific instruments and satellite communications – didn’t end there.

QUICK LOOK

00:00 - Episode intro and banter

02:04 - Rowing Week

03:19 - The Huddle

03:51 - Hot Seat Q&A

08:39 - Oar the Rainbow de-brief

12:21 - Rowing Origin Story: learning to row in college and a very memorable first head race

15:07 - From National team dreams to pulling together a team for a race across the Atlantic, and creating OAR Northwest

19:31 - Setting a Guinness World Record; rowing the Atlantic a second time with a new purpose

23:31 - CWF Africa to the Americas Expedition: Dakar, Senegal bound for Miami, FL capsized 72 days in

25:56 - The “10 most cowboy days” of Jordan’s life searching for, finding, and retrieving, the boat

28:08 - The boat’s namesake, its last mission and “funeral,” and handling grief

37:36 - Seeking to make OAR Northwest: The Film

39:47 - Connect with Jordan

40:45 - Wrapping up his pandemic project Tiny Boat Sessions

43:04 - Steady State Network news and notes

45:50 - Outtake

To see photos of Jordan, his teammates, and their boat the James Robert Hanssen, and get links to the people, organizations, and events mentioned in this episode, check out the show notes on our website.

This episode was made possible in part by Breakwater Realty, RowSource, and our Patrons.

Steady State Podcast is hosted and edited by Rachel Freedman and Tara Morgan. Tara provides additional audio engineering, books show guests, and is our sponsor and donor coordinator. Rachel writes our scripts and e-newsletter, and manages the website and social media. Our theme music is by Jonas Hipper.

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