THE first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean was hailed as a model of courage by President Chirac of France yesterday and named “Queen” by the islanders of Hiva Oa.

Maud Fontenoy, 27, took 73 days to complete the 4,960- mile journey from Lima, Peru, to French Polynesia — roughly the route of Thor Heyerdahl’s 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition.

Mlle Fontenoy, from Paris, arrived in a state of physical and psychological exhaustion, but with her reputation for courage firmly established.

“I have not pulled off an exploit, but accomplished an exercise of will to prove that even a woman has the determination and physical qualities to make a solitary crossing of this scale,” she said.

As her 7.5m cedar-framed, fibreglass-and-Kevlar rowboat bobbed towards Hiva Oa island, a month ahead of schedule, a group of men in traditional dress waded into the water to carry her ashore in triumph.

After embracing her mother, Chantal, she was given the title of Tahia, or Queen, an honour bestowed by the islanders only for the greatest achievements.

Mlle Fontenoy, who became the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic from west to east in 2003, said that she was “happy, touched and surprised” at the reception in French Polynesia.

She said that her return to land was “a moment I have been dreading . . . after more than 70 days of solitude. But it is a moment that I have waited for so long that I can only be delighted.”

Mlle Fontenoy ate freeze-dried food, such as paella, or fish that she caught in the ocean, notably “a gilt-head as big as a salmon”, which she cooked on a small gas heater. She had a desalinator for drinking water and slept on a 60cm-wide bed for no more than 20 minutes at a time to avoid drifting off course.

She rowed day and night, but reduced her effort in the afternoons when temperatures rose to 40C (104F).

In an interview on her satellite phone before her arrival, she said that her most worrying incident had occurred on March 20, when she opened the hood that provided a protective seal in heavy seas.

She was seeking fresh air, but was hit by a wave which engulfed her boat, Océor. “I capsized and my boat filled with water. I saw myself dying as though I was in an aquarium,” she said.

Océor righted herself and Mlle Fontenoy got her head above the waterline. “I remained Zen,” she said. “I always try to get things into perspective and handle problems one after the other, like a robot.”

The boat, which is equipped with a GPS navigation system and satellite communications, has 200 litres of liquid that serves as ballast and is divided into separate compartments, making it virtually unsinkable.

Mlle Fontenoy’s achievement came 58 years after Heyerdahl, the Norwegian explorer, sailed across the Pacific with five crew on a balsa raft to prove that the South Sea islands could have been settled from the east. That voyage took 101 days.

One reason that she went faster was that she took a more northerly route and thus benefited from equatorial currents that carried her between South America and Polynesia.

President Chirac sent her a message: “Well done for this exploit. We can imagine all the courage and the determination you needed to show to overcome the difficulties on board your small boat. Your physical and moral qualities, put to the test in this manner, have won everyone’s admiration.”

From Hiva Oa, best known for Paul Gauguin’s paintings of the islanders, Mlle Fontenoy flew to Papeete, the French Polynesian capital. She is due back in Paris on Thursday.

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