“Row, row, row your boat.” That little ditty might well be going through the head aplenty of Nederland local Tez Steinberg over the next few months.
The 36-year-old adventurer on Sunday dipped his oars in the water in Hawaii and began rowing for Australia in a project he calls the United World Challenge Expedition 2 to help raise awareness and funding for ridding the oceans of plastic.
Let’s just say it will be a far cry from rowing across his hometown Brainard Lake or Gross Reservoir. The 5,000-mile, non-resupplied crossing — the first-ever by a solo rower — is expected to take 115 to 180 days, depending on the weather. He’s guessing he will take around 2 million oar strokes to reach Cairns, Australia, by mid-March 2024 to earn both a “world first” and Guinness World Record.
It will be the second time Steinberg has tackled such a gargantuan rowing endeavor. A glutton for blisters, salt sores and other punishment, Steinberg took a break from his work as a manager in Deloitte’s leadership practice in summer 2020 to row a 23-foot boat from Monterey, California, to Oahu, Hawaii. Despite having no prior experience and battling a hurricane, leaking storage hatches and a broken rowing seat, he became the first person to complete the route as his first ocean row and only the ninth person to ever row the Pacific to Hawaii solo.
On that lonely row, he aimed to inspire others, protect oceans and raise funds to pay forward a scholarship that changed his life. The 2,700-mile journey took 71 days, with Steinberg and his team raising more than $77,000 in donations for peace scholarships, raising global awareness about ocean conservation and funding the collection and recycling of nearly 5,000 pounds of ocean plastic.
Steinberg, who suffered a heart attack in July 2022, is at it again, this time making an even longer solo trip to address the crisis of ocean plastics.
“I couldn’t forget all the plastic I saw at sea,” he said in a statement after his first expedition. “It was such a pristine environment yet filled with trash from around the world. The oceans are at a tipping point. There was so much plastic, it was heartbreaking. We’re never going to clear microplastics from the middle of the ocean. We have to prevent it from getting there in the first place. There will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2048, unless we act now. Effective, low-cost solutions exist. We just need to scale them to the most plastic-polluting regions.”
So, he started asking himself what was next? He wanted a goal so big that it inspired others to grow along with him. It wasn’t just about completing another daring expedition, but to do so in a way that brings researchers, companies, and storytellers together to create tangible results for the ocean.
Along the way to Australia, Steinberg plans to gather critical data for ocean researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, including ocean temperatures and their impact of the ocean plastic crisis; seawater samples to help show the impact of microplastics on marine health; and information to help answer the mystery of where most ocean plastic goes (up to 90% of ocean plastic is categorized as “missing”). His United World Challenge nonprofit is also running a global crowdfund to invest in infrastructure projects with partner Sungai Watch to prevent the flow of plastics into the ocean in Indonesia.
“We take great pride in supporting Tez on this mission, as he not only navigates the vast expanse of the ocean but also carries with him a crucial tool for marine research — the SeaKeepers’ Neuston net,” said Jay Wade, president of the International SeaKeepers Society. This fine net is designed to collect microscopic organisms, algae, plastics and plankton from the surface of the sea. “This technology will play a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of the ocean’s health and, more importantly, contribute to finding effective solutions towards our different partnered research projects.”
Steinberg’s journey to cross the Pacific a second, longer time in the name of saving the ocean from plastic is almost as long as the expedition itself. After suffering from depression in college, a friend invited him to join him in his first-ever triathlon. He did so with gusto, over the next 10 years competing in two Ironmans, 46 marathons, a 145-mile non-stop ultramarathon, and a solo bicycle tour of the UK and Ireland. At the same time, he became one of the youngest-ever delegates to attend the World Economic Forum, earned an MBA from London Business School, and became a Fellow of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and member of New York’s Explorers Club. His father’s death by suicide in 2016 inspired him to row across the Pacific from California to Hawaii four years later.
He refers to his craft of weaving adventure, business and storytelling as “endurance art,” saying that navigating each challenge in his life, both professional and personal, has propelled his drive to make the world a better place.
“I believe we all have an ‘ocean’ to cross, and the United World Challenge is my mission to inspire others to find their ocean and the courage to cross it,” he said in his mission statement.
He admits that this crossing will likely be more harrowing the first. It’s nearly twice as long and even more exposed. He anticipates facing towering waves, tropical storms and temperatures hitting more than 100 degrees for months on end.
A few things he’s bringing on this trip that he didn’t on the last include a wider diversity of food to maintain better nutrition, a desalinator so he can drink the ocean, and an Automatic Identification System that displays other vessels in the vicinity to help avoid collisions. While he’ll be alone the whole time, he plans to document the journey for a film on the endeavor while also sending out blogs, photos and videos in real time for his followers on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
But he’ll have his work cut out for him, battling everything from monotony to muscle fatigue.
“It’s definitely a bigger step into the unknown,” said Denver-raised Dave Shively, former editor of Canoe & Kayak magazine and author of “The Pacific Alone — The Untold Story of Kayaking’s Boldest Voyage,” detailing Ed Gillet’s 1987 first-ever, 63-day, solo kayak crossing from California to Hawaii. “Only a few unsupported, solo rowers have ever launched to successfully cross the Pacific west and south from Hawaii — and only making it as far as Tarawa and the Marshall Islands. Though a handful have made the full, 7,000-plus-mile crossing from the North American mainland to Australia — three in the last eight years since Peter Bird’s 294-day crossing in 1982. I think that’s a testament to the technical advances of the boats and on-board navigation and communication systems.”
And he points out that while Gillet made his crossing to Hawaii in a modified stock kayak with no functional communication system and using a sextant to navigate, today’s efforts are taking place in customized, built-to-spec, sleep-aboard “super crafts,” which include such built-in conveniences as sleeping compartments, kitchen and communications areas, modern navigation equipment and more.
In the last four years, he added, the once seemingly untouchable solo paddle to Hawaii has been done in a super kayak by Cyril Derreumaux in 92 days in 2022; on a stand-up paddleboard by Antonio de la Rosa in 77 days in 2019; and even with a kite-like inflatable wing by surfer Chris Bertish in 48 days in 2022.
“But all that being said, even with the support of connected and super-capable craft to help stack the chances in his favor, Tez has got to pull every single time on the oars, care for himself physically, and weather every storm, externally and internally, to cope with the daily mental struggle to stay motivated and problem solve,” Shively said. “It’s a fascinating drive to want to go that much farther having accomplished his initial goal. I’ll certainly be following his efforts.”
And potential records or not, Steinberg’s main purpose remains plastics over any sort of paddling pedestal.
“The ocean plastic crisis is a monumental threat, not only to marine life, but to our entire world,” he stated after finishing his first trip. “It feels insurmountable, but like I remind myself, one oar stroke doesn’t seem to make a difference, but two million strokes will take me across the Pacific. Consistent, tiny actions show that no ocean is too great to cross.”