In this episode we dig into the passion and focus of Cyril Derreumaux, a Guinness World Record holder for endurance paddling. Last year he and his team set the record for the shortest time to paddle from California to Hawaii. They paddled in teams of 2 for 1 1/2 hours on, 1 1/2 hours off, for over 40 days. It's an amazing accomplishment and his energy is simply infectious!

“You don’t need to be a rower to row an ocean. It’s all about mental strength”, so they said.

One amazing trait of us humans is that we are probably the only animal on earth that takes endeavors that have no “real” useful purpose. We run marathons, we climb mountains, we swim across lakes, we bike continents, we cross oceans.

This is a letter that I wrote to my kids, several years ago, June 23, 2012 to be exact, just before going to the Yukon River Quest, a 444-mile canoe race — www.yukonriverquest.com