PWC ride to raise awareness & funds to fight melanoma.
Personal water craft (PWC) riders are again preparing for a six-day odyssey to raise awareness and funds for the fight against melanoma.
Jeremy Burfoot is one of those typically unassuming Kiwis who do quite extraordinary things; almost it seems, as a matter of course.
A Qantas 747 captain, melanoma survivor and the man behind the ill-fated 32,000 PWC ride from London to Sydney, Burfoot is also the first person to circumnavigate New Zealand on a PWC.
And, on his Yamaha VXR1800 Wave Runner, he is the holder of two world records: for the fastest 1000km on a PWC (he took just 9h 48m) and for the longest distance travelled on a PWC in six hours (an incredible 618km and an astonishing 106km more than the previous record).
As a melanoma survivor, Burfoot has always used his challenges to try to raise awareness and funds for the fight against the deadly skin cancer disease.
In March this year, he again combined his focus on melanoma with his love of PWC riding and, with support from sponsor Yamaha and the Melanoma Foundation, created the inaugural Yamaha Melanoma Foundation Ski-NZ.
A fun 600km ride from Tauranga to the Bay of Islands, it attracted 15 committed riders and raised an impressive $60,000 for the foundation.
Burfoot says a second Yamaha Melanoma Foundation Ski-NZ is planned next March. It will be held in the pristine and picturesque waters of Marlborough and Nelson and the more challenging ones of Cook Strait.
Those taking part this time will travel from the Whanganui Inlet (just west of Farewell Spit) through Takaka, the Abel Tasman Park, Nelson and French Pass, around D'Urville and Stevens Islands and into Picton before heading across Cook Strait to finish in Wellington.
"We expect more than 30 riders to tackle the six-day, 325-nautical mile (600km) challenge," Burfoot says. "We also expect them to raise even more funds to fight melanoma than they did earlier this year."
To enter next year's event, participants will again have to fund-raise at least $1500. But Burfoot expects many will raise far more.
"One of the entrants in the 2014 challenge has already raised more than $10,000, he says.
"It is a great cause and the participants really get behind it. After all, what we are doing here is raising funds and awareness to save lives."
Burfoot says more than 300 people lose their lives to melanoma in New Zealand each year.
"And the really sad thing is that 90 per cent of those deaths are preventable. About 270 of those people didn't need to die and that's a real tragedy."
Burfoot says the money raised from the 2014 Yamaha Ski-NZ Challenge will be used to further the Melanoma Foundation's goals of improving the outcome for people with the disease; increasing awareness of melanoma prevention and early detection in New Zealand; improving communication among the Kiwi professionals whose work relates to melanoma and facilitating clinical and other melanoma research.
"We also want to provide New Zealanders with the appropriate education and awareness about the dangers of melanoma, support families affected by the disease and try to reduce the incidence and harm caused by melanoma."
Burfoot says most Kiwis do not realise that New Zealand has the highest melanoma incidence rate in the world or that melanoma is the fourth most common cancer in New Zealand (with more than 4000 new diagnoses each year), or that 70 per cent of melanoma cases occur in people aged 50 years and older.
Although Burfoot's message is a serious one, he stresses that next year's Yamaha Ski-NZ Challenge will primarily be a fun event.
Those taking part will gather in Takaka on Sunday, March 9 for registration, an evening briefing and a barbecue. The next morning they will begin the challenge with a ride from the Whanganui Inlet, around Farewell Spit and back to Takaka.
"This will be a magical beginning for the 2014 Yamaha Ski-NZ Challenge, as the Department of Conservation has given us a special 'one-off' authorisation to ride in the protected Whanganui Inlet."
The next day, the challenge will head from Takaka through the picturesque Abel Tasman Park to Nelson, while on Wednesday they head from Nelson to French Pass.
On Thursday, the riders can choose between a ride around D'Urville and Stephens Islands or a day of rest.
On Friday, the Challenge travels from French Pass to Picton and the final day, Saturday, March 15, sees them ride from Picton via Cook Strait to Wellington and a no-doubt welcome end-of-ride function.
In addition to their fundraising, participants will also have to pay a $55 application fee and a $410 provisions and merchandise fee.
"The provisions fee will cover the welcome dinner in Pohara, lunch and dinner each day, breakfasts while in French Pass and the Saturday night final function in Wellington," explains Burfoot.
"Entrants will also get an event T-shirt and hat and an experienced team, including medical support, mechanics, PWC experts and a Coastguard on-water recovery crew, will accompany the riders every day."
There are a few other restrictions, too. Participants must take part on a well-maintained, sit-down PWC not older than 2005.
And, in keeping with the event's "awareness of melanoma" and safety messages, participants will also be required to wear a lifejacket, full-face helmet, eye protection, gloves, shoes and a full-length rash suit, wet suit or something similar to protect themselves from the sun. Organisers are also encouraging those entering to carry a personal locator beacon.
Finally, as the PWCs will be trailered on shore each night, participants will also need to have some type of "shore crew" able to follow the event by road.
Despite those quite stringent entry requirements, Burfoot says the level of entries is already very encouraging. "We have 22 committed so far with a further 10 or so saying they will be coming," he says.
"We also expect there will be others as a result of their friends taking part or from reading about it in articles such as this."
To date, the entry list includes one American, one Englishman and somewhere between two and four Australians.
Somewhat surprisingly, the rest are all from the North Island (many from Auckland). The South Islanders, says Burfoot are - at this stage at least - "dragging the chain".
Fire crews were called to the scene around 7.30pm.