London to Auckland

A couple of weeks ago we launched the first Seadoo test machine at Takapuna ramp. As well as a launch for us, we used the machine as part of a Marine Industry Association’s ‘Discover Boating’ campaign where I taught Emma ‘The Boating Babe’ to ride a PWC. Photos for this successful outing can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/DanielMickleson/UltimateRide?authkey=Gv1sRgCPqLiZyO4uXW1QE&feat=email#

Emma has been trying out a different marine experience each week and writing articles for the Sunday Star times. The PWC article appeared last week titled ‘Splash and dash’ and in this article Emma described me as the Yoda of PWC riding and her as Luke Skywalker. Let me just say this now for the record while you role around on the floor laughing, Yoda I am not and claiming to be him, I have never. He is over 800 years old and talks backwards, and he is shorter than me.

Anyway, a lot of fun was had by all and Emma didn’t kill herself or anyone else so it was a successful outing.

This week we signed up with our New Zealand cancer partner, the Melanoma Foundation. www.melanoma.org.nz The Melanoma Foundation is a relatively young organization that has been formed to raise awareness of and support for people with melanoma. Given my history with melanoma, our partnership is fitting and both the Foundation and I are excited about the possibilities. I highly recommend a visit to their site to see what they are up to. Summer is upon us and our skin is getting damaged every day.

We added another member to our fantastic London-Sydney team this week. Robyn Lorenzen is a welfare officer for the NZ Police and has joined the team as Manager Welfare. Welcome Robyn. Robyn’s job will be to work with the crew and families on all matters related to welfare.

Goode PR are currently putting the finishing touches on a sponsorship proposal document that we will use to gain further sponsorship. One thing that will be available is naming rights on the Seadoos. Since the Seadoos will be registered as New Zealand ships they need a name and I don’t mean names like Brian or Wayne. However if there is anyone out there named Brian or Wayne with a spare $50,000 then I’m sure we can come to some sort of arrangement.

Next week we hope to have our donation page up and running on our site so shake those moths out of your wallets and get ready….

That’s about it for now but no blog of mine would be complete without mention of my riding buddy, Barrie. Readers are now starting to ask if Barrie is real or just a fantasy of mine. Well what I can tell you is that he is ‘The Stig’ of PWC riding, able to leap giant waves with ease and catch flying fish in his teeth. And really, this whole article has involved him from start to finish. He knows Emma ‘The Boating Babe’. He is the ‘Yoda’ of rowing, only taller and, some would say, better looking (others would say not). He should visit the Melanoma Foundation website because being as tall as he is, he is closer to the sun, he definitely needs welfare, no matter how much he pays me I’m not going to name a PWC Barrie and there are definitely moths in his wallet.

Cheers for now. Jeremy