In late summer of 1984, a man rowed across the treacherous North Atlantic Ocean. Alone, except for a cat curled at the bottom of the boat, Ove Joensen was trying to be the first to row from his home in the Faroe Islands to Copenhagen in Denmark. He hoped to kiss the statue of the Little Mermaid. Ove failed his first attempt, when he had to be rescued below the cliffs of the remote Shetland Islands. This is a story about finding a village full of friends even when you’re rowing alone across a ferocious sea. It’s a story told by villagers in the Shetland Islands who still think of him as family. 
The Shetland Times.Photo courtesy of The Shetland Times
Ove in the Shetland Times. Photo courtesy of The Shetland Times
Ove in the Shetland Times. Photo courtesy of The Shetland Times