Man to row alone from Hawaii to Australia for good cause

A 36-year-old man is attempting to set a new record by rowing 5,000 miles solo from Hawaii to Australia while dedicating his journey to saving the planet.

Tez Steinberg, of Boulder, Colorado, plans to leave Hawaii on Dec. 20 [weather depending] on his solo trip across the Pacific Ocean.

“I am completely alone at sea. There’s no support boat, no chase boat, I bring everything I need for the whole time,” Steinberg told “Good Morning America.” “So 800,000 calories of food, all the supplies, equipment, medical supplies, tools that I might need during this time.”

Steinberg’s attempt to row from Hawaii to Australia is the second leg of an adventure that began in 2020 when he rowed solo for 71 days from Monterey, California, to Oahu, Hawaii.

Through that effort, Steinberg raised more than $70,000 through United World Challenge (UWC), a nonprofit organization he created with a mission to “accelerate solutions for the ocean plastic crisis and inspire a more courageous world,” according to its website.

The funds he raised during his first trip were later used to send three students of color to the United World Colleges of the USA, an international network of schools and learning programs with the shared aim of “making education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future,” per its website.

During his 71-day trip, Steinberg also gathered microplastic data for research with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and his nonprofit funded the collection of 5,000 pounds of ocean plastic.

Recalling his journey while at sea during the first expedition, he said, “I was so surprised by the experience of being on the ocean, by how beautiful the ocean is, and also how much plastic I saw. So it was that realization at sea that led me to want to go back out again.”

Embracing endurance after mental health struggles

Speaking to “GMA,” Steinberg said he began to experience depression while he was in college. At the time, he said, he found a solution by participating in endurance sports.

“And it helped me feel better, which isn’t a surprise,” he said. “But as I went farther and farther, pushing myself through marathons and triathlons, I discovered this belief in myself that I’m so much stronger than I thought I was.”

However, in 2016, his life took a big turn after the sudden death of his dad, who died by suicide. The tragedy prompted him to challenge himself even more by solo rowing across an ocean. After successfully completing the task without any prior professional experience, Steinberg said he realized he could use his story to “inspire other people to believe in themselves and their potential to change and grow.”

He subsequently created UWC. The nonprofit was also born out of his lifelong passion for the environment, having grown up surrounded by forests in upstate New York.

Embarking on the second expedition with a new goal

Inspired by his first expedition, he said his new mission is to focus on “ocean conservation, and specifically ocean plastic,” adding: “All the plastic I saw at sea was just heartbreaking.”

“And I couldn’t come back and ignore it, and [I] needed to find some way to make a difference,” he continued. “And so with this next expedition, we’ve launched a crowdfund. And we’re raising funds to build river barriers in some of the most polluted rivers of the world, stopping plastic before it flows to sea.”

He said the upcoming voyage will also be part of an attempt to break a Guinness World Record in combination with his first trip from California to Hawaii. Nevertheless, he said, breaking records wasn’t his priority.

“If I complete this next leg [from Hawaii to Australia] in under 120 days, then I have a world record for solo rowing the entire Pacific Ocean, from east to west,” Steinberg said. “Personally, although a world record is exciting, that’s not why I’m in it. World record is fun for media attention, but really the media attention is just so that we can get more donations and support and action for ocean plastics.”

Training and overcoming setbacks

As preparation for the journey, Steinberg said he ensures he’s as equipped mentally as he is physically.

“Things as simple as meditation, gratitude, journaling, just developing more emotional awareness,” he said. “Because while I’m at sea, eventually my muscles will get tired, but nobody quits an ocean row because their muscles get tired, they quit because it gets too hard … And so a lot of my training and preparation for this comes back to mindset.”

Despite having trained for his first expedition, Steinberg said he had to start from the beginning to prepare for his second expedition after experiencing a heart attack in July 2022, an event he said occurred “out of nowhere, out of the blue,” given his good health record at the time.

“And after that event, I had to completely rest, no exercise, no movement for three months. And I was already planning this expedition,” he said. “I was starting from zero … I could do, like, three curls, I could walk for one minute before I needed to rest. And then five months after my heart attack, my doctors had cleared me to resume training, green light across the board, they gave me their blessing for me to do the expedition.”

When discussing his feelings about embarking on his second expedition, he said “I’m scared again, for sure.”

“This is a very risky and challenging endeavor. And courage is not the absence of fear. It’s choosing to take that step even when you’re afraid,” he continued.

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Using rowing as a metaphor in his message to the public, Steinberg said, “We all have waves washing overboard. I like to say we all have an ocean to cross, something in our life that seems too daunting, too bold or impossible to even consider attempting.”

“And I hope that this can be an example for people to find their ocean and the courage to cross it,” he added.

In his continued efforts to create awareness about his environmental mission, Steinberg shared a reminder that “we all have a role to play in creating clean oceans and a prosperous future and we can take action,” even something as seemingly small as carrying a reusable water bottle or cutlery.

“And it’s really through that level of engagement from a little bit from everyone that we can make a huge difference,” he added.

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide — free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call or text the national lifeline at 988. Even if you feel like it, you are not alone.