London to Auckland

‘Nothing is constant but change itself’.

I can’t remember who said that but they were right. As we march closer and closer to departure date we are constantly dealing with change and updating our plans as we go. But on a scale of 1-10 the latest is a 23. For the past year JP and Marie Dufour have been tireless in their attempts to get Domino ready for the ride. It has been a close run thing for some time now and with logistical problems mounting up the team and the Dufours have mutually decided that Domino is unlikely to make Istanbul in time and we have agreed to go without a support boat.

We are sad that JP and Marie will not join us on our adventure but they assure us that they will be there in spirit and also flying the flag for us in the USA where they are now headed. Safe sailing guys and we will see you sometime in the future.

Now before you all start digging into me like Barrie did when he heard it, let me explain our new plans.

Going without a support boat was actually our plan ‘A’ a couple of years ago so it’s not a major shock and we are not all running around in circles claiming that the sky is falling. In actual fact, most people in the know, see riding without a support boat as a much more pure ride and are quite excited about it. Sure it adds logistical problems but hey, it was never going to be easy or somebody would have done it already. Fortunately we heard about it in time to up the fuel capacity of the Seadoos to an impressive 270L giving an endurance of 15hours and range of 800km on a good day. Although we will cover more distance we will not be restricted by Domino’s cruising speed so the schedule should remain pretty much the same. It adds in a few extra countries though as we have to go coastal for most of the route so feel free to check out the new route at http://london-sydney.com/maps.htm

Those of you who look at the new maps will notice a portion on the map that goes directly from Sri Lanka to Indonesia. Although only about 10cm on the map this leg is around 1400km in the real World. We will need a support boat across there as it will take us about three days. We also anticipate needing one across the Tasman. Other than that we should be able to hop from place to place quite well with 800km of range.

In other news, we displayed the first modified Seadoo at the Auckland Boat Show last weekend and a huge amount of publicity has come of it giving us a much needed boost and offers of help from around the globe. In the next blog I will announce the riders. Talk amongst yourselves until then and for the one or two of you who haven’t donated yet please do it at http://london-sydney.com/donate-local.htm for your local cancer organization or http://london-sydney.com/donate-ultimateride.htm to help us out with the costs of the ride.

Cheers

Jeremy