The Crossing: Interview with Pure Team

Meet the Pursuit Boats Sponsored Athletes Preparing to Cross the Atlantic

At exactly midnight on June 23, 2024, Pursuit Boats' marketing team member Liubov Terenteva will set off with her team from Bimini in the Bahamas, embarking on an epic trip on her stand-up paddle board. Her destination: Florida.

The event is called The Crossing and is organized every year by the Piper's Angels Foundation, in support of people suffering from cystic fibrosis, a devastating lung disease that afflicts many families across the country and indeed around the world.

Liubov's fianceé, Daniel Lusenskas will join her to cross the channel in relays. The pair are part of Pure Team, a group of dedicated friends and colleagues whom they have assembled and which includes their specially-equipped support boat.

We managed to grab Pure Team, in between their hectic preparations for The Crossing, to find out what it takes to train and prepare for such an intense endurance event.

Meet Pure Team

Pure Team is made up of five members divided between athletes and their support crew: Liubov and Daniel are the athletes, or the two who are doing the paddling. Their support crew consists of Mark King, owner and captain of their support boat; James Upson, a member of the US Army special forces; and David Witty, a photographer.

Piper’s Angels Foundation secured a third paddler for Pure Team two weeks before the event: Jessica Jimenez. Her upbeat personality and outgoing nature immediately resonated with the team.

Liubov Terenteva

Liubov was born and raised in Russia, "in a small city where everyone knows each others' name," she recalled. Her community, which was surrounded by rivers, was full of avid fishermen and outdoorsmen and she frequently joined her father for early morning fishing trips. "Even in summer, the days were chilly!" she said. "I found myself dreaming of endless summers by the ocean. At some point, I packed my bag and left to explore the world on an exchange student program."

In 2009 she found herself in Florida, where she has remained ever since. It was an adventure that she still reflects fondly on. "Being a dreamer, I felt that packing my bags and moving to another country while crossing an ocean by plane was the craziest idea in my life. Little did I know that here I would go again, pushing myself to a new adventure, dragging other people with me this time, to cross the ocean - again - except on a paddleboard, back to the US!"

Even though she didn't carry on her father's passion for fishing, Liubov still loves everything involving the water and water activities, of course including boating!

Daniel Lusenskas

Daniel originally hails from Valley Stream, New York where he was a policeman with the NYPD for almost two years. His love for Florida began in 2014 during a fateful visit to his mother who lives in the state. "I never had the intention to stay here," he confirmed. "I just wanted to see the area and check out the job market!"

It didn't take long, however, for the Florida sun and sea to make their mark on him, leading him to decide to remain in Florida. "Living close to the water, life is good, I really can't complain!" he said.

When he's not paddling across the Atlantic, Daniel typically prefers other activities. "I prefer to play golf and stay on the land! But having said that, when I was younger, I was always fascinated with sea life; in fact I wanted to be a marine biologist. I was always obsessed with the water. "

David Witty

A recently retired marine industry veteran, David began his career selling boats in 1974, working his way up the industry, ultimately holding various executive positions. Over the years, he's lived in several states including Pennsylvania but now calls Florida his home.

David has loved photography for most of his life, with his father having gifted him a prized Nikon camera when he graduated college. "Over the years, I have shot 70 Nascar races and lots of airshows," he said. "I've shot the Old Warbirds for about sixteen years as well as many charity events. I never pursued photography on a professional basis because I just want to shoot whatever I want, on the weekends."

Now David enjoys spending his life onboard his boat with his wife, Charlene, and granddaughters, two to three days a week.

Mark King

Former Army Special Forces soldier Mark King now enjoys executing special operations of a boating kind, visiting Bimini regularly with his wife Emily and eight-year-old daughter Madeleine.

Their platform of choice is 'Prospector', their Pursuit S 378 Sport center console. The couple, who previously joined us for an interview in late 2022, speak highly of their Pursuit, highlighting its comfort, seakeeping, and the general sense of safety that comes from having such a well-engineered craft underneath you.

The King family are brand ambassadors for Pursuit Boats, an activity they are very proud of. "Being around the Pursuit Brand is all about being part of a great family. Our family is interwoven with Pursuit so thoroughly and we would not want it any other way," Mark explained. "I always tell people that I'm not a boat sales guy trying to sell boats. We just enjoy talking about how our particular family goes boating and what we enjoy doing."

The Kings enjoy a variety of activities from onboard Prospector, including cruising to the Bahamas and back, plenty of scuba diving, and also just enjoying great picnics on the water, and socializing with friends and family.

James Upson

A close friend of Mark's, James is a current member of the US Army special forces, with which he has served in conflict zones all over the world including the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe. "I'm active duty, serving in the military and loving it, but expecting to retire in the next year," he explained. "It's been a great career, I've thoroughly enjoyed it, including meeting people like Mark, it's been a great privilege in my life".

Today, James lives in Tampa with his wife and three kids - two girls and one boy. "I always look for opportunities to spend time on the water and joining Pure Team is a great opportunity to be with such a great team of people. Mark is also really looking forward to singing with me on the boat during the trip. He's already picked out some 80s love songs," he said, laughing.

Assembling Pure Team

After deciding to participate in The Crossing, Liubov recalled that she had very little difficulty assembling the members of Pure Team. "I told them I was doing this event. Mark said right away that he wanted to be the support boat; I didn't even have to ask! Dave jumped on it, too. Having a professional photographer onboard and someone with his connection to OneWater automatically gave me a bigger platform to talk about this event."

After being invited by Mark, James jumped at the opportunity. "The energy between us is really fun, it's going to be a great time!" he said. "I am looking forward to seeing multiple sharks in the water and helping the paddlers to move faster," he laughed. "Jokes aside, Pursuit has put together a great team!"

The team name came about thanks to her work with Pursuit's social media platforms. "As Pursuit's social media manager, I always hashtag 'PurePursuit'. The concept of 'Pure Idea', and 'Pure Motivations' came together to form the idea for the name. Nobody in the team disagreed with the choice of name!"

Preparing to Paddle

In the weeks leading up to the event, Liubov and Daniel have been training as best they can to try and prepare for the physical challenge of paddling across the Atlantic. "We have been getting out onto the water four to five times a week for between one and three hours each time. It's a tough, full-body workout from your feet to your fingertips. At 38 years old, it's actually motivating me to get myself back in shape!" said Daniel. "The training is bringing us together; keeping us healthy and doing positive and productive things. It certainly keeps me out of trouble!" he admitted.

Liubov had a more philosophical view on her preparation for the race. "I want everyone to be safe and to be mentally prepared. We need to concentrate on paddling and care for our breath and strength. It's a long trip and we must be fully prepared." 

Racking up the Gear

Liubov & Jessica

As the owner and captain of Prospector, Mark has spent his time making final preparations onboard for the journey. This included the installation of a custom rack system from Manta Racks, to store the SUP boards on the way to the starting line. "We've had great support from Tim at Manta Racks," Mark noted. "The racks, which fit into the rod holders, can fit boards ranging from ten to sixteen feet."

Apart from that, Mark felt comfortable that his Pursuit S 378 was already perfectly equipped for the event. "One of the best aspects of Pursuit Boats is that they are 'overbuilt'. It's a wide, stable platform with plenty of places to sit and stretch out for a paddler while on their rest cycle. The side access door will make it easy for Liubov and Daniel to access the boat and get boards in and out of the water.

"The boat has all of the amenities to make this a comfortable, safe event," he continued. "The radar, spotlights, and underwater lights will be ideal for illuminating the area around the paddlers to ensure that we have eyes on them and the other paddlers at all times," he continued. "Additionally, the gyro stabilizer is available to keep the boat stable so that if the seas aren't cooperating, we can pull the team onboard and let them catch a breath while the seas calm down. The boat's floor-level lighting and the reduced visibility red lights for nighttime navigation will also contribute to a safer environment for all of us. That's important because I'm expecting the nighttime aspect of the operation, with paddlers on the water as well as plenty of other boats within our proximity, all with different skill levels, to be the most challenging."

The Mental Game

As special forces veterans, James and Mark were looking forward to helping Liubov and Daniel overcome the inevitable mental challenge involved with undertaking such a strenuous and demanding event. "Mark and I have been through special ops for the better part of two or three decades now," James explained. "Every year or two we participate in a long-distance endurance event. It's fun. Even though it's a suck-fest, you eventually hit a rhythm and you forget what you're doing. That's what we'll be doing to help our paddlers here as they go through this wonderful suck journey. When you're around good people, it goes faster. Even though your body will hurt, at some point you'll forget about it. Being around good people and close friends is important, so we're here to help them along the journey."

Mark agreed. "Our training is very reflective of those endurance events. Having a great, supportive, positive team to help you get through those tough experiences and tough operations is key to a successful mission. We see it all the time in special operations that you need the support of the conventional troops, to enable you to do this unique and cool stuff. You can't do cool guy stuff without that support team behind you!" he said, grinning.

Support the Crossing

The Crossing is an annual event hosted by the Piper's Angels Foundation, a US-based non-profit supporting families as they cope with Cystic Fibrosis, a devastating lung disease.

Pursuit Boats is a proud sponsor of Pure Team and the company is proud to be associated with such an important event as well as the work being done by the Foundation.

If you would like to become involved either as a participant or sponsor, you are invited to contact Piper's Angels Foundation, they would love to hear from you.