On June 10, 2006, college friends Dylan LeValley, Greg Spooner, Brad Vickers and Jordan Hanssen stepped into a 29-foot rowboat as the only American competitors in the first North Atlantic Rowing Race, pulling across the northern ocean. From the first dreams of race planning to heaving through ocean waves, Rowing Into the Son: Four Young Men Crossing the North Atlantic takes the reader along with team Outdoor Adventure Racing (OAR) Northwest as they head out from New York Harbor, catch the Gulf Stream current and make the final dramatic push for the finish line, a narrow 50-mile wide "gate" at Bishop's Rock Lighthouse off the coast of Cornwall. Hurricane-level winds, giant eddies, passing freighters, flying fish and sharks are all elements of the journey, and the race comes to a tense head on day 17 - with another 55 days to go - as the crew realizes their food supplies are running out and they must drastically restrict their eating. This is lead rower and University of Puget Sound graduate Hanssen's intimate account of team OAR Northwest's journey, a tale you can hear first-hand when Hanssen reads passages of the book at his alma mater.

ROWING INTO THE SON READING, 6:30-8 p.m., Tahoma Room, Commencement Hall, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner, Tacoma, free admission, 253.879.3100