It's wild to look back at the first expedition I did and see the emotions among my team members and the worry on my face.  I am unique, maybe, in that my worry often manifests itself in waves of dry sarcasm, smiling and laughing. We had no clue what we were about to get into.  We couldn't possibly fathom the amount of exhaustion we were about to experience, the trying difficulties and our understated abilities to overcome them, and the amount of will and restraint we'd have to exercise each moment of every day.

This video was filmed one week before I left on the most exhausting journey of my life to date - rowing the Atlantic Ocean - with a group of people I had never spent any backcountry time with and very little "real life" time either.  Did I want to know my team much better? Yes.  The reality is, unfortunately, with many things in expeditions as in life, they come together very last minute.  I had maybe 14 people who committed to the project then left within the period of 6 months prior to the row.  The final team did not end up coming together until 2 weeks before the row, with the last addition being Johnathan (Chris's brother), who saved us from having to row a 3 across the Atlantic due to the unexpected last minute circumstances that eliminated original 4th teammate. Chris I had met once during our 3 day team build in Chattanooga before spending the 5 weeks in Europe together in preparation for the row.  Oliver was the one I "knew" the longest, for all intents and purposes, as he had been someone who stuck with it through the highs and lows of partner losses and gains since June of that year.  He was the good friend of one of my close friends, so even though we only had about 2 more days of time spent together in our pocket than Chris and I, I still felt immediately closer to him due to the association.