{"id":26169,"date":"2026-04-20T19:48:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=26169&post_type=story"},"modified":"2026-04-20T19:53:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:53:41","slug":"tough-enough-worlds-toughest-row","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/tough-enough-worlds-toughest-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Tough Enough: World’s Toughest Row"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to the Ocean Rowing Society, about 2,045 rowers have successfully crossed an ocean. Psychology doctoral<\/a> student Andres K\u00e4osaar is now one of them.<\/p>\n

K\u00e4osaar studies how teams function in isolated, confined and extreme environments, such as space and Antarctica. Motivated by the pursuit of a life well-lived, and to better understand his research subjects, he signed up for the World’s Toughest Row<\/a> with three fellow Estonians, forming team Rowtalia. Together, they journeyed 3,000 miles west, from the Canary Islands off the African coast, across the Atlantic Ocean while raising money for mental health and children’s charities based in Estonia.<\/p>\n

It seemed improbable to most people. But at dawn on Jan. 23 \u2014 after 39 days, 23 hours and 47 minutes at sea \u2014 Rowtalia overcame all odds, reaching the finish line in Antigua and Barbuda.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
$75,000 raised<\/dt>\n
For charities in Estonia during Rowtalia’s journey<\/dd>\n
12 hours<\/dt>\n
Of rowing a day completed in two-hour shifts<\/dd>\n
3 years<\/dt>\n
Of training, mainly on indoor machines, prepared K\u00e4osaar\u2019s team, which had no prior rowing experience<\/dd>\n
\n
\n

\"Bearded<\/p>\n

\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

\n

\"Four<\/dd>\n

<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":26195,"template":"","categories":[979],"tags":[1517,1470,30,1752],"class_list":["post-26169","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","tag-academic-excellence","tag-psychology","tag-research","tag-spring-2026","issues-spring-2026"],"yoast_head":"\nTough Enough: UCF Student Completes World's Toughest Row<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As a researcher of teams in extreme environments, UCF psychology student Andres K\u00e4osaar rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/tough-enough-worlds-toughest-row\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tough Enough: World's Toughest Row\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a researcher of teams in extreme environments, UCF psychology student Andres K\u00e4osaar rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/tough-enough-worlds-toughest-row\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pegasus Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-20T19:53:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2026\/04\/ToughEnough-Pegasus-Spr26-FB-1200x630-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"As a researcher of teams in extreme environments, UCF psychology student Andres K\u00e4osaar rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/4\/files\/2026\/04\/ToughEnough-Pegasus-Spr26-TW-1600x900-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/pegasus\\\/tough-enough-worlds-toughest-row\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/pegasus\\\/tough-enough-worlds-toughest-row\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tough Enough: UCF Student Completes World's Toughest Row\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/pegasus\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/pegasus\\\/tough-enough-worlds-toughest-row\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/pegasus\\\/tough-enough-worlds-toughest-row\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/4\\\/files\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/ToughEnough-Pegasus-Spr26-1200x800-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-20T19:48:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-20T19:53:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"As a researcher of teams in extreme environments, UCF psychology student Andres K\u00e4osaar rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/pegasus\\\/tough-enough-worlds-toughest-row\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/pegasus\\\/tough-enough-worlds-toughest-row\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/pegasus\\\/tough-enough-worlds-toughest-row\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/4\\\/files\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/ToughEnough-Pegasus-Spr26-1200x800-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/4\\\/files\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/ToughEnough-Pegasus-Spr26-1200x800-1.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Four men in blue collared shirts stand on boat next to rippling water while holding a white and blue sign that reads: \\\"World's Toughest Row. 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