Billed as ‘the biggest, baddest human endurance challenge on the planet’, the inaugural Great Pacific Race is well underway, and sees teams from around the world rowing from Monterey, California to Honolulu, Hawaii.

That’s a distance of at least 2,400 miles (by the shortest route possible), but the natural elements of wind, waves, current and human steering mean that most of the boats will cover around 3,000 miles in their epic journey. So how long is that expected to take? Somewhere between one and three months depending on the experience of the crew, the number of people aboard and the conditions – the latter of which, of course, is completely beyond the competitors’ control.

The race is unsupported, and crews are forbidden from accepting any assistance. This also means they’re required to carry everything they’ll need for the 30-90 days they’re at sea for: all of which adds to the unique challenge of the event. This year there are 34 individual adventurers making up 13 different crews for the trip.

The race will allow two kinds of boat: the classic and open class, though the two are not directly competing against each other. In fact, only two of the teams will be racing in open class boats. Each class has to adhere to strict guidelines.

A documentary about the event are working on a documentary to cover it in full. You can watch the trailer below:

You can keep up with the teams’ progress on the official site, using their race tracker. Good luck to every crew taking part!