Julen Sánchez cycled and rowed from Europa to the USA. This involved him combining his two passions of sport and travel, and moreover sent a powerful signal in terms of sustainability.
He spent 160 days cycling and rowing – from Paris to Pittsburgh. This extraordinary expedition enabled Julen Sánchez to combine his wanderlust with extreme sport and sustainability. ‘The idea arose from this alliteration: Paris and Pittsburgh’, explains the 29-year-old student. ‘In his first term of office, Donald Trump justified withdrawal from the Paris Agreement by claiming he was elected to represent Pittsburgh, not Paris.’ Sanchez wanted his mammoth journey to show that nobody can abrogate personal responsibility given global issues like the and to send a signal in support of international cooperation in terms of .
The travel paradox
Sánchez grew up in a German-Spanish parental home in the . He had always been open-minded and fond of travelling. ‘But there was always a nagging question that confronted me with a paradox. It concerned how my means of discovering the beauty of the world was at the same time contributing to the ongoing desecration of that beauty, so that at some point it may no longer exist.’ The more he saw of the world, the more he wanted to protect it. Within a week, he first met someone who had travelled by bike through Mexico and then met two people who crossed parts of the Atlantic in a wooden boat, and he realised: , without vast quantities of CO2.
The bicycle route from Paris to Portugal was relatively straightforward, Sánchez recalls. He more or less set off cycling and arrived at the Algarve coast 27 days later. He did however have to plan the Atlantic crossing by rowing boat in greater detail, sit down with his team to come up with a safety concept and ensure sufficient food and waterproof music speakers for the almost four-month journey in social isolation. He was finally able to put to sea in 2021 after just under three years of logistical, physical and mental preparation.
Between storm and calmness
Just like the waves over which he rowed, the journey was also full of mental ups and downs. ‘After only 11 days, there was a fairly major storm that surpassed everything we had planned for. Waves as high as a house for 72 to 96 hours.’ Sánchez was about to send a distress call when the drogue that stabilises the boat in storm conditions was torn away – but he was ultimately able to manage the situation on board on his own. ‘It then became clear that, if we could survive this, we’d make it all the way over.’ Even though he was alone on the open ocean, Sánchez always talks about ‘we’ – he, his boat and the land-based team.
An ’up’ moment of the 131-day rowing expedition across the ‘Big Pond’ was New Year’s Eve 2021 / 2022. ‘It’s actually just like any other night in mid-ocean, because of course you’re so far away from dry land that you aren’t aware of any celebrations or fireworks.’ But then suddenly the ocean began to sparkle. Marine phosphorescence, bioluminescent plankton that cause the water to shimmer when disturbed. ‘Around midnight, I thought to myself: this is just so magical. So I plunged into the dark ocean and swam through the water like a glowing avatar. I was of course still attached to the boat.’
Dolphins, whales and Carnival
Experiencing at first hand was also something that made the lonesome journey easier. ‘The same group of dolphinfish accompanied me every day for 5000 kilometres. They always surfaced in the evenings to chase little fish beneath the boat.’ He often also encountered dolphins and different whale species. He sometimes felt as if he was taking part in a nature documentary. ‘One of the most fascinating aspects of being on the ocean is the unfathomable tranquillity, the incredible peace that is almost addictive.’ He still feels this today, to the extent that the Rhineland-native prefers to avoid Carnival.
Extreme travel, international studies
Sánchez isn’t just a cross-border commuter during his expeditions, even his study career is international. He studied Psychology in the Netherlands and Bonn and completed an Erasmus-year in Madrid – valuable experience that has been helpful on his intercontinental mission. He is currently studying for a master’s degree in High Performance Psychology in Amsterdam, since he’s interested in the mental factors involved in extreme performance.
His goal is to impart in a scientific manner to other extreme athletes the psychological aptitudes that he used on his expedition from Paris to Pittsburgh and has since further developed. Pittsburgh was, by the way, only the official end of his major expedition. ‘I was already so well conditioned after the crossing that I thought to myself: come on, you may as well include Canada.’ So 160 days turned into 200.