KEY POINTS:
Organisers of the Earthrace round-the-world record bid are trying to organise an online raffle - with 800 tickets costing US$25 ($34.50) each - to raise cash to continue the voyage.
The prize will be a ride on the biodiesel-powered boat on a leg of its voyage, with airfares to fly to and from the vessel. The ill-starred Earthrace trimaran is undergoing more mechanical repairs in Cochin, India, after a rough 3704km journey from Singapore.
"The boat engine was damaged as it negotiated choppy waters [on the trip], said Captain Pete Bethune.
A project engineer, Scott Fratcher, said on the Earthrace website the project was almost out of cash to fly ground crew to meet the boat at its refuelling stops around the world.
"Earthrace is threatened with grinding to a halt," Mr Fratcher said.
"We have the fuel, but don't have the final few dollars to fly the ground crew to the next few points of the race.
"If the ground crew cannot arrange customs, immigration and fuel before Earthrace arrives she will have long pit stops and never make the record."
Previously, "ride-along" seats on Earthrace have been allocated to donors who have given between $10,000 and $15,000 to the project.
In one case, David Stark, a doctor who joined the leg from Panama to Mexico, was called on to save the life of a seriously injured Guatemalan fisherman run down by Earthrace.
Yesterday the Earthrace organisers appealed for a sponsor to host the online raffle, specifically one with non-profit status recognised in American tax law.
The 24m trimaran started its voyage on March 10 from Barbados, aiming to break the current around-the-world record of 75 days set by British-based Cable and Wireless in 1988.
Since then, a series of mechanical breakdowns and a collision off Guatemala have delayed the vessel, and the official start for the record bid has been moved to San Diego.
Earthrace has to return there by June 21 to break the record.
Last night the boat was scheduled to start the 2592km trip to Salalah in Oman to refuel for a 3611km leg through the Red Sea to the Suez Canal.
Mr Bethune said the extension of the record bid to San Diego was taking a lot of effort: "It means we have to source additional fuel and money - when right now we don't have enough money to get past Oman.
"But whenever we have hit a brick wall as regards funding or fuel or progress in general, someone or something has come along to take us just that little bit further."
- NZPA
