Ultimate jet-ski from London-Sydney called off

DRAFT MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release                                                                                                                                                                   31 August 2010

Jayco Ultimate Ride to jet-ski from London-Sydney called off

An ambitious three-year plan to ride personal watercrafts from London to New Zealand to raise funds for cancer research has ended because rising tensions in Yemen has lifted the risk of terrorist and pirate attacks to an unacceptable level.

“The NZ Department of Foreign Affairs has strenuously warned us not to proceed south of Egypt unattended,” said Jayco Ultimate Ride team leader Jeremy Burfoot. “The risk of terrorist and piracy attacks in Yemen has risen to an unacceptable level and we would be a prime target. We all have families and it would be unfair to put their futures at risk, even with such a good cause.

“Keep spreading the healthy living message and early detection of cancer message. I will be. Even if we have saved only one life with it, all of this will have been worthwhile.”

The Jayco Ultimate Ride had aimed to break the world distance record for personal watercraft (PWC) with a ride of almost 32,000 km from London to Sydney, and then on to New Zealand. The team of four men, three New Zealanders and a Croat, set out from London on August 1 and got as far as Fenike, on the south coast of Turkey. They were nearing the Suez Canal, where the team was due to start the most dangerous part of the challenge.

As well as the threat of piracy, the challenge was beset with technical difficulties due to the punishing nature of the journey on their PWCs. The machines had been adapted to hold between 250 and 270 litres of fuel; they had already been being stolen in Bulgaria, though they were later recovered.  

“Even though Seadoo are the best PWC brand in the world, they are not designed to take the continuous punishment that we have subjected them to with our hectic schedule and the modifications that we made to them,” said Burfoot.  “We found that we were continually losing time for maintenance and struggling to get spare parts in out-of-the-way places.

“When a fuel leak developed in my long range tank, effectively ruling out long open water crossings, we knew we couldn't make Australia in the time I have available.”

The Jayco Ultimate Ride partnered with cancer organisations such as the Melanoma Foundation of New Zealand, Australia’s Lifehouse at RPA, Dutch child cancer charity Kika Kenderen Kankervrij, the German Childhood Cancer Foundation, the U.K.’s Macmillan Cancer Support and Livestrong, the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

The team is in Rhodos, Greece, and plans to ride north to Croatia to return the PWCs. By that time, they would have covered some 8000km.

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