5,500 miles
18 Stadiums
161 Days
Raising Money for kids in Ukraine
Rowing and Sailing
no mechanical power
Follow the voyage
At 77 years Old
Why Ukraine?
My father Kazimierz was born in Chortkiv — a small town in what is now western Ukraine. He fled at eighteen, driven out by the Germans and Soviets, and never returned. My mother Jean intercepted German Morse code for Bletchley Park during the war. They met in Blackpool afterward, smiling in photographs, and crossed the Atlantic together. I arrived in New York Harbor at seven years old and looked out the porthole at the Statue of Liberty. America was noisy and overwhelming and nothing like England. But it was ours. When Russia invaded in 2022 my wife Jill traveled to Szczecin in western Poland and went to the train station every day to meet Ukrainian refugee mothers and their children arriving from the war. She made friends, gave what she could, and has stayed in contact with some of those women ever since. We have been connected to this cause from the beginning.
Why children affected by the trauma of war?
Displacement and trauma are not abstract concepts in my family. They happened to my parents. They happened to me as a child arriving in a city that was nothing like anything I had known. I grew up spending summers at Charles River Rowing in Boston — a club that charges one dollar per summer. I have said ever since that whoever endowed it made the greatest gift to kids in Boston of all time. That is what we are trying to give back to the children of Ukraine.
Why row and sail?
My English grandfather rowed and coached at Weybridge Rowing Club on the Thames. His grandson Christopher rowed there too. Christopher's grandson rows there today. Four generations of our family on the same stretch of the Thames. In college I coxed the crew team — including at Henley Royal Regatta, on the same river where my grandfather coached. My aunt was there that day and rode in the referee's launch that follows the crews down the course. Sixty years later I competed in the Head of the Charles in a single scull — having first participated in the second ever Head of the Charles in 1966. I served in the US Navy and navigated by the stars — no GPS. I came to this country by ship. For the past decade whitewater kayaking Class 3 and 4 rivers has been my greatest source of joy. A boat named Tenacity seemed like the right vessel for this voyage.
Why baseball?
My father Kazimierz could not have cared less about baseball. He attended exactly one game in his entire life — and by complete accident witnessed David Wells' perfect game on May 17, 1998. The odds of surviving his thirty RAF bombing missions over Germany were one in four. The odds of seeing a perfect game are one in nine thousand six hundred. Combined: one in thirty eight thousand four hundred. I was at Game 5 of the 2001 World Series with my son — ten weeks after September 11th — and sang New York New York at one thirty in the morning with fifty thousand strangers. That's why baseball.
About the Voyage
Tenacity is an Angus Row Cruiser — a purpose-built expedition rowing and sailing vessel designed for exactly this kind of long distance coastal and inland waterway voyage. She is 20 feet long, stable in open water, and carries enough gear for months of self-sufficient travel.
She has a sail for downwind sections, a comfortable rowing position, waterproof hatches for gear storage, and a sleeping area for overnight stops. Her name was chosen deliberately — because that is what this voyage requires.
Angus Row Cruiser · 20ft · Sail and oar
The eastern United States is an island. Connected by rivers, canals, lakes and coastlines, it is possible to travel from Washington DC to Miami entirely by water — with two portage sections and one trailer leg to Minneapolis.
The Potomac · Chesapeake Bay · C&D Canal · Delaware River · Hudson River · Erie Canal · Lake Erie · Allegheny River · Ohio River · Cuyahoga River · Lakes Huron & Michigan · Mississippi River · Missouri River · Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway · Gulf of Mexico · Florida Coast
Eighteen Major League ballparks visited by water. No other way in.
Nationals Park · Camden Yards · Citizens Bank Park · Yankee Stadium · Citi Field · Fenway Park · PNC Park · Progressive Field · Comerica Park · American Family Field · Wrigley Field · Guaranteed Rate Field · Target Field · Busch Stadium · Kauffman Stadium · Great American Ball Park · Tropicana Field · loanDepot Park
I'll be rowing and sailing through your waters sometime between April and September 2026. If you'd like to join me for a leg — whether you're a kayaker, canoe paddler, small boat sailor, SUP boarder, or just someone who wants to be on the water — I'd love the company.
Every leg of this journey passes through extraordinary American waterways. The Chesapeake Bay. The Hudson River. The Erie Canal. The Mississippi. The Tennessee-Tombigbee. The Gulf Coast.
If you're near the route and want to row, paddle or sail alongside Tenacity for a day or a week get in touch.
The Voyage — Segment by Segment
Down the Anacostia, into the Potomac, up the Chesapeake Bay through Baltimore, through the C&D Canal and down the Delaware River to Philadelphia.
Nationals · Orioles
Up the Delaware River, through New York Harbor, Long Island Sound and the coastal route to Boston. Four ballparks in the most densely packed baseball corridor in America.
Phillies · Yankees · Mets · Red Sox
Back down to New York, up the Hudson River, through the Erie Canal, across Lake Erie, portage to Chautauqua, and down the Allegheny River to Pittsburgh.
Pirates
The most challenging open water section of the entire voyage. Across Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan — five ballparks in four cities.
Guardians · Tigers · Brewers · Cubs · White Sox
760 miles downstream on America's greatest river. With a 2mph current behind you this will be your fastest segment — flying south toward St. Louis.
Twins · Cardinals
Up the Missouri River to Kansas City, back to St. Louis, then overland to Cincinnati on the Ohio River.
Royals · Reds
At 1,600 miles the longest single segment of the voyage. Down the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway through Alabama and Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
Rays
The final 280 miles. Down the Florida Gulf and Atlantic coastline to Miami. The last ballpark. The end of the voyage.
Marlins
Why Voices of Children
Of all the organizations working to help Ukrainian children, Voices of Children stood out immediately. They are the largest Ukrainian foundation providing comprehensive psychological support to children living through war — and they have been doing it for nearly ten years.
My father Kazimierz was born in Chortkiv — a small town in what is now western Ukraine. Driven out at 18 by the Germans and Soviets, he never returned. The children of Ukraine have always been part of my family's story. When Russia invaded in 2022, my wife Jill traveled to the Polish border to meet Ukrainian refugee mothers and their children. We have been connected to this cause ever since.
Track Tenacity Live
Position updates every 10 minutes while underway
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