Two local rowers who achieve incredible feats to raise money for charities are at it again.
U.S. Marine veteran Paul Lore, 60 of Fernandina Beach, and Mat Steinlin, 44 of St. Augustine, who joined forces in 2021 for 52 days on the Atlantic Ocean as part of team Foar From Home, have teamed up again.
This year’s team, called Ohana, also features two female international rowers Iris Noordzij of the Netherlands and Marina Hunziker of Switzerland.
They just set sail from Monterey, California, for a 2,800-mile trek across the Pacific Ocean to Kauai to raise awareness and funds for K9s For Warriors and the Children’s Tumor Foundation.
Lore (pronounced Lor-ee) and Steinlin raised $750,000 for K9s for Warriors on their previous cross-Atlantic voyage.
Veteran suicide is not a number, Lore said. It affects everyone that veteran knew -- forever.
“That’s what we need to focus on. These are our brothers, our sisters, our uncles, our aunts that we’re losing,” Lore said. “It’s senseless for any veteran to be on a waiting list. That should just never happen in our country.”
Steinlin tried to describe for people what it’s like to be on the Ocean for weeks on end in a rowboat.
“What I always try to explain when people try to imagine what that feels like is try to sit on your couch and live on your couch for the next 40 days. You have to do everything on that couch for the next 40 days. You have to eat, sleep, rest, restroom, shower, everything in that little space. You cannot step off it. That’s how it feels like,” said Steinlin, who is a Swiss-born dual citizen. “We’re doing this with four people so obviously there is a lot of personal contact, there’s not a lot of personal space. You have to really interact with each other. And obviously we’re all human beings, so the mental aspect to work through that, wake up every two hours, get back on the oar … for forty to fifty days.”
But he also said rowing from California to Hawaii across the Pacific Ocean is nothing compared to what some have gone through.
“If you think what we’re doing is tough, it’s not. Tough is what our veterans have to go through,” Steinlin said. “One of the organizations, K9 For Warriors, takes really good care of them.”
He said the team name, Ohana, means family, and he wants everyone to remember that.
“I want America to know there are people out there who care for each other,” he said. “It takes so little to be kind and support each other.”
Team Ohana believes it will take them roughly 40 days to reach Kauai.
To support Ohana’s row and their efforts to raise funds for local charity K9s For Warriors go to: https://ohana2023.com. Also, if you want to follow their journey, go to https://www.facebook.com/TeamOhana2023/.