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March 19, 2007
PEDAL POWERED EXPEDITION CROSSES ARABIAN SEA EN ROUTE AROUND THE WORLD >>
After 47 days at sea, Briton Jason Lewis (39) and Indian Sher Dhillon
(34) pedalled into Djibouti, East Africa Sunday completing the 1,900
mile journey from India on a unique pedal powered boat.
The last 24 hours of the voyage were the most critical as gale force
winds threatened to blow the duo onto the Somali coast.
"At one point I thought we'd lose everything" Lewis said on arrival in
Djibouti. "My worst fear became a reality when a fierce northerly wind
started to blow us south and onto the exposed coastline of western
Somalia where there would have been no hope of rescue".
On reaching land Sher Dhillon said "To arrive in a continent for the
first time by boat is truly amazing in this age of air travel and to
have pedalled the thing here makes it even more rewarding"
On their first day out from Mumbai they hit the unmarked wreckage of a
sunken ship, damaging the underside of the boat and destroying the
rudder. After limping back Mumbai and having a new rudder built they
set out again, only to have their water maker fail just a week from
land. The coastguard arranged for a passing ship to drop off 180
litres of drinking water, which the pair survived on for the remainder
of the voyage.
On nearing the Gulf of Aden a fierce current pushed them southwards
towards the island of Soqotra, one of the world's most feared areas
for attacks by pirates. Just days before the pair neared the island a
UN cargo vessel was hijacked and the crew kidnapped for ransom.
The expedition is part of a larger endeavour by Lewis to complete the
first human powered circumnavigation of the world.
Since departing the Greenwich Meridian Line in 1994, Jason Lewis has
travelled 35,000 miles - three quarters of the way around the planet -
without wind or motor assistance -- pedalling a one-of-a-kind pedal
boat ('Moksha', meaning liberation in Sanskrit) across the world's
oceans, bicycling and rollerblading over land. On August 18th 2000,
Lewis became the first in history to pedal across the Pacific Ocean
from San Francisco in the US to Port Douglas, Australia - 178 days and
8,000 nautical miles. In 1994, original pedalling partner Stevie Smith
and Lewis completed the first East-West crossing of the Atlantic by
pedal power, and a year later Lewis completed the first unsupported
crossing of the USA on roller blades.
"The idea of circumnavigating the world by human power is still as
exciting and demanding as it was 13 years ago when I first started. To
me it's still the ultimate human challenge. This next leg through
Africa and the Middle East signifies the closing stages of the
expedition, but they're major sections in their own right".
Lewis expects to complete the circumnavigation by October this year.
The final leg will entail mountain biking the final 6,000 miles
through Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, the Middle East and finally Europe to
finish at the Greenwich Meridian Line in London.
Visit the Press Room on the x360 website for past press clippings,
streaming video clips and photos -
http://www.expedition360.com/press_room/home.htm
Regular updates and archived journals from this leg can be read from
here.
http://www.expedition360.com/journal/
For further information, interviews and photos please contact Kenny
Brown +44 777 563 7004
ENDS
Posted by jason at March 19, 2007 1:30 PM