Today is a special day as we rowed away from Newfoundland Canada exactly a month ago. We rowed to the starting point and started this journey on 6/26/2026. I
t’s an amazing expedition so far as we learned about the North Atlantic Ocean, its weather and currents at this time of the year, got pretty close to an iceberg at dusk, followed by curious sharks a couple of times, observed playful dolphins, whales, sea gulls; battled through strong unfavorable winds and currents, para anchored 11 times, passed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, celebrated half way, and now taking advantage of favorable winds and currents, moving the boat eastward to Penzance UK!
One of the most inspiring things to me is to be able to connect with many of my friends, families, colleagues, kids, and a new group of friends. The new friensa are 12 rare diseases patients representing millions of rare disease patients around the world (7,000+ identified rare diseases by WHO). I received their email letters the day before our departure. They asked me to read their letters and let the world hear their voices during my rowing across the North Atlantic Ocean. As this journey is a less traveled (very wet and cold, challenging route), somewhat like, yet far less difficult than, the rare disease patients who have to fight for their life everyday. Every oar stroke, every wave that hit us, have enpowered to fight back and to keep the boat move forward. Of course, when we cannot, we recover to regain strength and continue the journey day and night. Thanks for all the love and support to bring us this far (800+ nautical miles left).
Today I read their Letter #7 from a patient representing ALS rare diseases patient group. It made me very emotional as I had once raced with an ALS patient once at the Ironman World Championship. He finished the race by rolling his body across the finish line. To memorize him and his spirit, the following year and years after that, many competitions rolled across the Finish Line in Kona, Hawaii at the race every October. Even though months later he passed away, we cherished his passion and spirit representing the ALS group.
I’ll continue rowing and reading the remaining 5 letters and replying to each. Thank you for inspiring me and my teammate Ran.
