Four Estonians, competing as Team Rowtalia, will attempt to row across the Atlantic this December in the World’s Toughest Row – a gruelling 40-day race from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean; it is the first time Estonians have entered the event, and the crew will also be raising money for charity.
“Estonians have a historically strong connection to the sea. This land, saturated with bodies of water along the Baltic Sea, has influenced our lifestyle, culture and identity in many ways. Both as important trade routes with neighboring countries and as a source of livelihood through fishing. Our prowess on the water has given us a reason to be proud of the sailors, rowers, and other athletes on the water who represent us at various events,” Team Rowtalia states on its website.
“We are determined to prove that, with enough will, we can even row across the Atlantic. We aim to put Estonia on the world map once again and show that you don’t have to be a top athlete to take on such a formidable challenge!” the team declares.
The World’s Toughest Row runs from San Sebastián de la Gomera, the capital of La Gomera in Spain’s Canary Islands, to Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua and Barbuda. The near-40-day voyage covers some 4,800 kilometres – about 3,000 miles, or 2,600 nautical miles – across the Atlantic, entirely unassisted.
One might ask why the rowers would choose such a gruelling endeavour, given that the shortest crossing from Europe to North America is in fact a mere 300 kilometres – 186 miles – from Iceland to Greenland.
Well, one reason lies in winds and currents. The Canary Islands sit at the edge of the North Atlantic trade wind belt, where steady easterlies and the North Equatorial Current drive westward towards the Caribbean. In effect, wind and water conspire to push the rowers across, offering them a powerful advantage.
Three PhD students and an innovator
It is also the route taken by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage in 1492, riding the trade winds from the Canaries to the Bahamas. Ever since, it has been the classic “downhill” Atlantic crossing for sailing ships, rowers and modern ocean races.
Estonia’s Team Rowtalia is made up of four men – three PhD students and an educational innovator. Andres Käosaar is a teamwork psychologist; Arnold Rein Tatunts, an educational innovator; Kait Kaarel Puss, a wood chemist; and Karl Jürgenstein, a geneticist. What unites them, they say, “is the search for a change from the everyday grind in the form of different experiences – be it mountaineering, motorcycling in the woods, running marathons or spiritual challenges.”
Rowing across the Atlantic will be their greatest challenge yet – spiritual or otherwise. The idea seems so outlandish that, as Käosaar admits, even the team struggle to get their heads around it.
“We did a five-day sea training in June – 116 hours straight – to get some sense of what sleep deprivation and rowing 12 hours a day would do to our bodies and minds. But 40 days sounds insane even for us,” Käosaar tells Estonian World.
What makes the challenge even more daunting is that none of the four had any rowing experience before. “So all this is new also to us,” Käosaar says. “We found a rowing trainer in Tartu, Rait Merisaar, and two years ago, under his guidance, we started to learn. There was a lot of room for development, and our first training on an academic rowboat on the Emajõgi was a real test – both of our ability to row and of our teamwork. But slowly, steadily, we improved, and now we can take our ocean rowboat in the right direction.”
A lot of preparing
The idea of rowing the Atlantic came from Arnold Rein Tatunts. Fresh from running a marathon, he stumbled across a YouTube video of four British women taking on the challenge – and the thought began to haunt him.
“But he didn’t want to do it alone and, unsurprisingly, the first people he told weren’t too eager to jump in a boat with him. Then he called me. My profession is teamwork psychology in difficult situations and, as an adventurer, I like to put myself in environments where I can experience and practise teamwork under pressure. So I said ‘yes’ pretty quickly – and that’s how we got the ball rolling,” Käosaar says.
Käosaar admits that preparing for the event involves much more than training. There is the physical and psychological conditioning, learning the boat and mastering rowing at sea. But just as important, he says, is the teamwork and the wider project – from marketing to communications.
“We’re training a lot. We’ve each taken on different endurance challenges, but we’ve also worked on teamwork – a year and a half ago we spent five days skiing in freezing Lapland. There we learned how we communicate and cope in stressful situations and tough conditions – lessons we’ve carried onto the boat.”
“But we aren’t completely ready – and we can’t be. Forty days in these conditions is impossible to rehearse, so there will definitely be surprises. Right now, our goal is to learn to manage each other in such a way that, even if conflicts arise and someone gets fed up with everything, we can keep it under control and stay focused on our goal,” he adds.
Rowing 24 hours a day – in shifts
Although more than 40 boats will compete in the World’s Toughest Row, each crew will be physically alone, often miles from the nearest rowers. The organisers provide support vessels, but these are sailing boats – and as Käosaar notes, if trouble strikes, it may be a passing cargo ship that reaches them first, even if that takes more than 24 hours.
“During the row we’ll have a satellite connection with the organisers and, if needed, with other vessels. The boat carries all the necessary safety equipment – including a lifeboat, first aid kit, signal flares and GPS buoys.”
Rowing in the competition continues around the clock, with two men at the oars while the other two rest. “The usual cycle is two hours of rowing, two hours of rest. In that short window you have to eat, wash, sleep. Sleeping takes place in two narrow cabins – one in the bow and the other in the stern. One of our biggest concerns is whether we can adapt to this rhythm, physically and mentally. So far, training has shown our bodies can adjust,” Käosaar explains.
The team will carry 55 days’ worth of freeze-dried food and reserves, stored in the boat’s compartments. Although they plan to complete the crossing in about 40 days, the organisers require every crew to take ample surplus provisions.
Every team member needs to consume around 5,000 calories a day to maintain strength and avoid losing weight, so the amount of food is substantial. The boats are also equipped with solar-powered water purifiers to turn seawater into drinking water. Solar energy, too, is used to charge navigation, communication and other vital systems.
The fears are part of the challenge
“Hygiene conditions are very limited – there is no shower, and natural needs are done in a bucket or, in the case of ‘number one’, in bottles that are then emptied into the ocean,” Käosaar says.
So, what do they expect – and what are they most afraid of?
Käosaar says the team’s expectations vary: on one side, it is about pushing themselves and seeking adventure; on the other, it is a scientific and charitable mission. For him, the crossing is also a chance to experience his own field – teamwork psychology in extreme conditions – directly and personally, while gathering data for a scientific article.
“Our fears are mostly about physical endurance and sleep deprivation – whether we can manage it over such a long time. Also the dynamics of the team: can we handle conflicts successfully? And there will be conflicts. How do we keep up good teamwork? We also worry about seasickness, the heat, salt sores, and how to cope with them. We haven’t been able to test these properly on the Baltic Sea. Another fear is losing our sense of humour – taking the project too seriously and forgetting to enjoy it.”
“All team members still agree that the fears are part of the challenge we’re taking on in the first place,” Käosaar adds.
Accomplishment – and charity
Team Rowtalia is also rowing for charity. They are raising funds for two organisations: peaasi.ee, which promotes mental well-being, prevents mental health problems, supports early intervention and works to reduce stigma in Estonian society; and the Tartu University Hospital Children’s Foundation, the country’s oldest and largest children’s hospital fund, which helps hundreds of children and families in need of specialised treatment or care, as well as funding hospital equipment.
For the team, the World’s Toughest Row is both a test of personal endurance and a mission for charity. “We started the project with personal eagerness and a desire for adventure, but we couldn’t have kept it going for three years without larger goals,” Käosaar says.
The team needs €160,000 to compete, of which they have already raised more than €103,000 through the crowdfunding platform hooandja.ee. “We’ve spent our own money on the project and made considerable efforts both financially and time-wise. We bought the boat (€60,000) and paid the participation fee (€25,000) from our own pockets. Unfortunately, we’re not so rich that we could cover the entire €160,000 budget ourselves – we’ve run out of our savings,” he explains.
“We’ve found sponsors and, alongside donations on the hooandja.ee platform, we also offer teamwork trainings and other forms of cooperation to give private citizens a way to support us.”
After the race, the team plans to sell their boat to future challengers. The proceeds, together with any surplus from donations, will be given to the two charities.
“Our main goals are: to show every Estonian that anything is possible if you believe in it; to support young people’s mental health in cooperation with peaasi.ee; and to help treat children with rare diseases through the Tartu University Hospital Children’s Foundation. So after the crossing, all the money from the sale of the boat and whatever is left of the collected donations will be shared between peaasi.ee and the Children’s Foundation,” Käosaar promises.
Should you like to donate to the team or learn more about their crossing, visit the Team Rowtalia website.
