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MODLer
of the Month

Meet the people taking MODL into their everyday lives and extraordinary adventures. This month: Aaron Carotta, rowing around the world.

October 2026 • Adventure Aaron

One man. One boat.
Around the world.

Aaron Carotta is attempting to row around the world, alone, in a 23-foot boat named Smiles. He’s a MODL ambassador, an adventurer, and someone who keeps finding a way forward, even after the ocean takes almost everything.

65%Of the journey, by Aaron’s count
23 feetHis boat, home, and whole world
15Countries reached

Expedition snapshot: October 2026. Progress reported by Aaron on October 20.

Aaron Carotta rowing Smiles on the open ocean.

01Meet the MODLer

A life built around
the next adventure.

Before the ocean row, there was a canoe. In 2016, Aaron set off from Montana with no canoeing experience and paddled roughly 5,000 miles to Florida over 233 days. The journey became the documentary Finding the Current.

That willingness to begin has carried him into something even bigger. On October 10, 2021, he left San Diego aboard Smiles, setting out on an attempt to become the first person to row around the world entirely by sea.

The scale is enormous. The daily work is simple: get back on the oars, and keep going.

Smiles out of the water during a refit, with partner logos on the yellow hull.

02Losing Smiles. Finding a way back.

The journey almost
ended in the Pacific.

In 2023, a capsize in the Pacific left Aaron separated from Smiles. A passing oil tanker rescued him from his life raft, far from land. His boat was lost.

A year later, he found her. After a refit and rebuild, Smiles returned to the water in September 2024, with MODL among the partners aboard.

It wasn’t a clean restart. There would be more rough water, more repairs, and more improvising. But Aaron and Smiles were moving again.

Aaron checking an orange Infinity Tool securing equipment aboard Smiles in rough seas.

03The Indian Ocean • Day 581

Twenty-eight hours.
Ride it out.

On June 11, 2026, Aaron faced what he described as the biggest storm of the journey. He bunkered down for 28 hours, with his gear secured around him.

His update brought the reality of a tiny boat on a huge ocean into focus. In the caption, he gave our tie-downs a shout-out:

“@modl.infinity Great tie downs!”

Aaron’s caption from the Day 581 storm update.

Watch Aaron’s storm update

A MODL ToolKit hanging inside Smiles, with Aaron’s caption calling it his favourite go-to item on the boat.An orange Infinity Tool wrapped around equipment aboard the yellow boat.

04MODL aboard Smiles

Small tools.
A place on board.

There’s no hardware store in the middle of the ocean. On Smiles, useful gear needs to stay close and make the most of a small space. Aaron hangs his ToolKit inside the boat and puts Infinity Tools to work around the deck.

After another capsize near Papua New Guinea in 2025, he told us he was left with his ToolKit bag and one strap. He kept making do with what he had.

“Had to make it work man.”

Aaron, in a message to MODL after the capsize.

Aaron’s departure rowing view, with orange Infinity Tool straps along the boat’s rails.

05The next chapter • October 21, 2026

Back on the oars.

Aaron is back on the water. After repairs and preparation in the Seychelles, he departed very recently, on October 21, 2026: Day 605 of his journey. His next destination is Madagascar, followed by a planned crossing to South Africa.

He has plenty of Infinity Tools aboard for this next phase of the journey. Aaron estimates he is 65% of the way through his full around-the-world row, with this newly started leg taking him into the next chapter.

Aaron calls his around-the-world row the SEE Level Expedition. Along the way, he supports Advocate Adventure, a charity that helps fund first adventures for other people, giving them a chance to begin a journey of their own.

Photos and footage: Aaron Carotta / @adventureaaron. Story and expedition status as of October 21, 2026.