{"id":150079,"date":"2025-12-10T13:35:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T18:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=150079"},"modified":"2025-12-10T13:35:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T18:35:56","slug":"rowing-across-the-atlantic-ocean-one-ucf-students-bold-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/rowing-across-the-atlantic-ocean-one-ucf-students-bold-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Rowing Across the Atlantic Ocean: One UCF Student\u2019s Bold Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andres K\u00e4osaar is motivated in life by one simple truth: We are capable of doing more than we think we can.<\/p>\n

That philosophy has landed the UCF industrial and organizational psychology<\/a> doctoral candidate on a mountain in the middle of a blizzard during an Arctic ski trip. It\u2019s what has encouraged him to complete 50-mile ultramarathons. And it\u2019s a big part of what is pushing him into his next big endeavor: rowing across the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

According to the Ocean Rowing Society<\/a>, 1,736 rowers have successfully crossed an ocean as of November 2025. Exponentially more people (over 7,000) have summited Mount Everest.<\/p>\n

Motivated by the pursuit of a life well lived, and for the betterment of his research into optimizing teamwork in isolated, confined and extreme environments like outer space<\/a>, K\u00e4osaar has every intention of adding his name to that exclusive list despite what his team is up against.<\/p>\n

They are not experienced sailors or fishermen. In fact, in their everyday lives they are a wood chemist, a geneticist, a psychologist and a banker who had never held an oar in their hands until three years ago when they committed to this goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have one life. We have to allow ourselves to dream, even if they seem wild.\u201d \u2014 Andres K\u00e4osaar, UCF student<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They had not attempted to actually row on the Atlantic, whose waves can measure up to 20 feet high, until a few days ago when they performed a test run ahead of their official embarkment Dec. 11.<\/p>\n

Their 30-foot-by-5-foot vessel must be self-sustaining with enough food and provisions to withstand a 5,000-calorie\/day diet over their 3,000-mile voyage westward. There is no getting off the boat once the endeavor has started. If an emergency dictates otherwise, they will forfeit their journey.<\/p>\n

They intend to row in pairs in two-hour time blocks. That\u2019s 12 hours of rowing a day, with never more than a two-hour break in between shifts, for 40 days straight.<\/p>\n

The challenges \u2014 and potential glory \u2014 ahead are as vast and wide as the ocean itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have one life. We have to allow ourselves to dream, even if they seem wild,\u201d K\u00e4osaar says. \u201cIf someone asks me if I would like to do something extraordinary, I can’t say no.\u201d<\/p>\n