Rib Mountain man kayaks Wisconsin River in record time

This spring, Andy Nevitt paddled down the entirety of the Wisconsin River faster than anyone on record, in just 3 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes.

Nevitt, a nurse anesthetist from Rib Mountain, beat the previous record by just under six hours. And throughout the entire journey, he slept for only about five hours.

“This is easily the hardest I’ve pushed myself through a race,” Nevitt said.

He began the grueling kayak journey on Memorial Day, travelling 420 miles down the river from near Land O’ Lakes to Prairie du Chien. The “Fastest Known Paddle” record tracking site recognized the feat shortly after. 

“Andy faced low water, sleep deprivation, waist-deep mud, dense fog, high wind and waves, mazes of sandbars, multiple sets of rapids, more than one capsize, and nasty blisters on his hands,” the site administrators wrote on Facebook after crowning Nevitt the new record holder.

The previous record was set by two paddlers, Mike Schnitzka and Bill Perdzock, in May 1995. They completed the journey in 4 days, 2 hours and 22 minutes.

Nevitt’s trip included 27 dam portages. Throughout the attempt, the river’s low water level required him to get out and drag his boat, shaving off the time he could afford to rest if he wanted to beat the record. Sometimes, the river’s conditions made him question his safety.

“There are a few times along the way where I thought to myself: What am I doing?” Nevitt said.

He recalled encountering rapids on his first night: “And I ended up going through these rapids in the fog at night, where I couldn’t see what was in front of me, and I was just kind of holding on for dear life.” 

But he persevered, for days, through a full-body muscle spasm, a flipped boat, delirium, exhaustion, bone-chilling cold, swelling in his hands and feet and clouds of mosquitoes.

His wife, Lindsay Nevitt, drove along the river to serve as his “Support Captain.”

“I found a level of perseverance through adversity that we both kind of experienced,” he said. “I think that’s what I’m most proud of. “

Nevitt said he’s still recovering, about a month after the race. 

“My blisters are pretty much all healed up, but my hands are still kind of sensitive and my joints ache,” he said.

It wasn’t Nevitt’s first time racing down the Wisconsin River. He earned the solo male record in 2023. He said the idea for that journey came after some playful ribbing from a friend.

“A friend of mine … maybe as a dare, asked me when I was going to show everybody how it was done,” Nevitt said.

The 44-year-old has been racing kayaks competitively for years. After the dare, he started scouting the route down the Wisconsin River and calculating what it would take to beat the record.

He finished that attempt in 5 days, 2 hours and 19 minutes, and said he felt like he could improve his time. 

During that attempt, he said, he took time off the river to sleep in hotels.

“My whole approach to it this time was: I want to either be progressing down the river or resting or sleeping, only when necessary,” he said.

This time, his wife brought along a stocked van for him to take quick rests in, sometimes for just 15 minutes.

“I didn’t leave the river the entire time,” Nevitt said.

A small documentary crew filmed Nevitt’s trip. The filmmaker, John Seal, plans to complete it in winter and hold a local premiere in Wausau, Nevitt said.

People have asked Nevitt if he’ll race down the Mississippi River next. He laughed.

“I have zero plans to do anything like that. That’s a whole different beast,” he said. 

Nevitt hopes his record-breaking feat will inspire others, and not necessarily to race kayaks. 

“Life is kind of made up of these moments where you overcome challenges, and you persevere through things,” Nevitt said. “My hope is that people are a little bit inspired to have some of that in their own personal lives.”