The Mirek we rode with for the first time is an action punk. When he's 60, he'll have wine, he'll take a guitar and go to the beach. He likes movement, spontaneity, society, and the pace that kept us out.
Jarda is a completely different person. He's 82 years old, needs a different regime, more peace, more security and more time. He was only at sea twice in the whole trip.
Is that wrong? It's not.
The blind sun does not measure the success of the expedition by the number of trips, kilometres or beach photos. Each person has different options, different energy, different health, their habits and their tempo. And it's not our job to get a person into a ready program. The program's supposed to adapt to him.
There's more to work with. Someone's more fun. Neither of which means we don't like doing it. We do it for people. If someone who runs 20 kilometers a day comes with us, we'll adjust to their pace. If a man who needs more rest and support comes with us, we'll adapt to him again.
This is perhaps the most important knowledge of both first expeditions. We don't drive people on a tour. We're going with them. We listen to them, we respond to the situation, and we're looking for a way to really get something out of the way.
We thank Irena Higher from SONS for the trust, experience, peace and help when we needed it. We thank Dan Kuhn of Espresso Point for the apartment that gave us the facilities for the whole trip. And we thank all those who were close to us - for the news, advice, support and willingness to answer the phone. The group on WhatsApp was our connection to home during the expedition and our little crisis meeting.
We're getting tired, but with a clearer sense of why we're doing this. Not for the plan. For the man who's coming with us.