The Ultimate Ride personal watercraft challenge will take the team from London to New Zealand for charity
A daredevil team of adventurers is attempting to break the world record for the longest personal watercraft (PWC) ride in history by covering 20,000 miles between London and New Zealand.
The Ultimate Ride team set off from the Thames Docklands on Monday 2 August accompanied by hundreds of supporters from British PWC clubs.
If successful, the five-month trip will break the world record for distance travelled on a PWC by 8000 miles.
The brave group is hoping to raise money for and awareness of cancer prevention, working with cancer organisations across the world.
Jeremy Burfoot, himself a cancer survivor, is leading the team through the waterways of Europe, around the Arabian Peninsula via the old Arab spice trade routes, down the western coast of India, via Singapore to their final destination of Auckland.
“This challenge is an epic adventure, which will include giant canal and river barges, along with storms, huge waves, sharks and whales, but hopefully not pirates!”
Two days in and after a choppy Channel crossing the team have reached Germany on schedule.
“We’ve had a good ride on the Rhine; conditions are pretty good, though the river is flooded in parts,” wrote Jeremy on his blog.
“It’s prime camping season now, being the German summer, so we’re having to slow down to avoid p***ing people off.”
“We’ve been through about 10 locks and we’re keen to get through as many as we can with a target of around 24. There’ll be 60 locks in total.”
Donations can be made through the Ultimate Ride website.
