The Team
There’s nothing we can’t do. Together.
Oar the Rainbow is a team of people who believe in doing hard things in pursuit of our most fulfilled lives. We see the Pacific Challenge as an exciting opportunity to push the limits of our endurance and find strength not only in ourselves, but in each other. Each drawn to water and sport in our own ways, we know there’s nothing we can’t do together when we put inclusion, joy, and kindness at the heart of our team. Oar the Rainbow believes representation in sports matters, and we are proud to embody this belief by supporting the first out transgender rower to cross the Pacific.
Taylan Stulting
President & Captain (they/them)
"I realized I have to stop dreaming and start doing. I have to stop half-heartedly pursuing my dreams and throw all I have into the things that make life worth living."
— Taylan Stulting
Taylan Stulting is a 30-year-old queer and transgender rower, social worker, and survivor. They work in gender-based violence prevention and response, and are a second year doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where they row with Mendota Rowing Club.
As a survivor of child sexual abuse and other forms of violence, Taylan has always been drawn to athletics as a way to reclaim their body and turn trauma into healing. They grew up competing in equestrian sports with a particular love for show jumping, and later ventured into running. Taylan began rowing in 2012 in their first year at Bucknell University, and over the years has also tried bouldering, roller derby, and flying trapeze. To compete in the World’s Toughest Row and transform unimaginable trauma into the unimaginable power and strength of rowing across an ocean feels like the ultimate reclamation.
Taylan fell in love with travel and adventure while attending graduate school in the United Kingdom and has (so far) traveled to 67 countries and territories. They have hiked Mount Vesuvius, hitchhiked to the Great Wall of China, camped in a yurt in the Gobi Desert, cliff jumped in the Bahamas, and rowed through the canals of Venice. They returned to rowing in 2017 after graduating with their first Master’s degree, and in 2019 circumnavigated 53 kilometers around Manhattan with their masters rowing team. The seven hour journey solidified Taylan’s passion for endurance rowing and reignited their love of adventure, and they are excited to take both to the next level in the open ocean!
Taylan first heard about ocean rowing in 2017 and though they were immediately intrigued, they didn’t think crossing an ocean would ever be feasible for them. Then in June 2022, Taylan followed the journey of four women as they completed an inspiring, record-breaking row from California to Hawaii. As Taylan watched the live stream of the team stepping on land again after 35 days, they put aside all of their doubt. Taylan knew they were going to row across an ocean, and they wanted to be the first out transgender person to do it.
Taylan started Oar the Rainbow with the goal to center community and camaraderie in bringing their ocean crossing to life. Taylan believes relationships and community are what make life worth living, and they have found the most meaningful relationships are often built during life’s most vulnerable moments— and there isn’t much more vulnerable than being in the middle of the ocean with nothing but your boat and your team! With a rapid increase in misinformation and legislation pushing trans people out of sports, Taylan also hopes to use this crossing as an opportunity to be the athletic representation they never had and show the world that trans people do have a place in sports.
Outside of work and rowing Taylan enjoys hiking, spending time with their two nieces, horseback riding, reading, playing piano, doing puzzles, and singing karaoke.
Courtney Farber
Secretary (she/her)
“A ship in harbor is safe, but
that’s not what ships are built for.”
— John A. Shedd
Courtney Farber is a 53-year-old woman who craves, needs, and respects the ocean. So it was no surprise to her that she fell in love with ocean rowing when she was introduced to it in 2016. The strength, the precision, the beauty, the relentlessness, and the thrill of the sport called to her in a way nothing else in a lifetime of athletic endeavors had. Although she trained mightily for a 2018 Pacific row, she did not make it to the start line. (Yes, much of the battle of ocean rowing is making it to the start line.) Five years later, after countless hikes, bike rides, rows, swims, climbs, even a fall (skydiving), she is taking what she learned from the first experience to journey to the start line and beyond with Oar the Rainbow.
An athlete, a self-employed personal trainer by profession, and a social and cultural anthropologist by education, Courtney is insatiably curious and embraces new adventures. Whether through the pursuit of masters degrees at Columbia University and The University of Massachusetts or the completion of physical goals such as rucks, runs, and triathlons, Courtney most often sets her own far-flung challenges and goes after them 100%. She is well known in her neighborhood as the one trudging through the rain, cold, and heat. The intersection of utterly miserable and incredibly happy indeed is her happy place. She likes doing things.
The oldest member of the Oar the Rainbow team, Courtney would like to help redefine what people can and cannot do - should and should not do - regardless of who they are and what stage of life they are in. She is thrilled that other members of her boat do, too. Courtney is supported by her husband, three fantastic children, extended family, and a host of friends and colleagues. She and her teammates look forward to making history as the fastest mixed-gendered four to cross the Pacific, the first boat to have an openly transgender person rowing, and a chance to blow negative stereotypes and limiting expectations… out of the water!
Julie Warren
Treasurer (she/her)
“One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began”
— Mary Oliver
Julie Warren is a 33-year-old queer athlete, travel enthusiast, and fierce believer in the power and magic of doing hard things. An experienced Bestower of Gray Hairs to her mother, she strives to fill her life with unusual adventures, novel challenges, and gluten-free pastries from as many corners of the globe as possible.
Julie is from and currently resides in Western Massachusetts, where she grew up making art, playing music, and dancing in a performing arts school. Though a highly competitive person, she found sports both intimidating and inaccessible to her at an early age, and it wasn't until she received a "no experience necessary" rowing recruiting flier during college registration that she had the opportunity to try something new. Much to her surprise, it stuck! It didn't take long before she was hooked on the sport she'd never heard of and eager to share her excitement with everyone she knew.
Since graduating from Smith College with a degree in Mathematics, Julie has spent the better part of 12 years coaching high school and collegiate crews while also rowing, running, cycling, playing rugby, and rescuing cats through the Greater Boston and Western MA areas. In search of new professional challenges and more space to pursue her adventures, she also recently became a software engineer. (Shameless plug, she's looking for work!)
Julie loves the rhythm and pace of human-powered travel and is always adding to her list of accomplishments and silly (and sometimes scary) stories of adventure. Frequently traveling solo, she has spent months wandering different states and national parks, backpacked through Central America, and cycled thousands of self-supported miles in Canada, Ireland, and down the West Coast of the United States. Julie began thinking about an ocean crossing in 2012 after reading Tori Murden McClure’s memoir, A Pearl in the Storm, and has since remained endlessly intrigued by the idea that one can just decide to become a person who rows across an ocean. Terrified as she is, she’s decided to do it.
For years the water, repetitive motion, and single-mindedness of rowing have been the "glue" in Julie’s life, and she looks forward to a new, saltier relationship with these forces, as well as the still-unknown lessons this journey and the ocean will teach.
Support Crew
Our ocean crossing would not be possible without an incredible network of coaches, friends, and family supporting our team behind the scenes. Although we have more folks helping us than we can begin to write bios for, we’d like to highlight a few of our key players (and non-blood relatives) here. These folks help us keep the oars moving, and we are so grateful to have their support on this journey.
Technical coach (he/him)
Duncan Roy
Duncan is a world-leading professional Ocean Rowing Coach and founder of The Ocean Rowing Academy. Duncan has trained over 60 crews, 3 race winners, 10 world record crews and 15 class winners. Having rowed across the mid-Pacific, the Atlantic Ocean twice and circumnavigated Great Britain, Duncan has created a unique training methodology in which he shares his experiences and lessons learned to enable people to train safely, optimize their preparations, build resilience, and thrive out on the ocean.
Technical coach (he/him)
Aaron Kneebone
Aaron is a highly skilled seafarer with a huge depth of experience and knowledge transcending both coastal and ocean environments. Aaron is a former Boat Operator in the Royal Marines specializing in small boats and has rowed the Atlantic Ocean twice, winning the trios category on both occasions and breaking the world record for the fastest trio with Dark Trio. Aaron has everything you could want from a coach— a huge passion for his craft and a rare set of skills and experiences, combined with a lovable personality, a wicked sense of humor, and most importantly in ocean rowing—spades of humility. Aaron is currently completing his training and mentorship program to become a Professional Ocean Rowing Coach within The Ocean Rowing Academy.