On 12 December, this brave crew of four students set off from the Canary Islands to cross the ocean in a rowing boat. They hope to reach the other side in 30 days: the Caribbean island of Antigua, 4,800 kilometres away. The ‘Out of the Blue’ team participates in the World’s Toughest Row, an annual event that has seen many Dutch entrants before, but never a student team. This year’s team consists of Amir Anwar-Hameed (Ireland, 26), Mark Bolger (Ireland, 26), Marko Rehbein (Germany, 26) and Paul Heynen (Netherlands, 21). Paul, Marko and Amir all have a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, with Amir switching to Industrial Design Engineering and Mark studying at Trinity College Dublin. Their oceanic rowing boat Queen of Hearts is a floating laboratory, equipped with a trailing sensor that continuously measures the temperature of the sea water. That data can be used to calibrate ocean surface temperatures calculated from remote sensing. The team is also sponsoring two mental health projects and two ocean conservation projects.