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April 29, 2002
HUMAN POWERED CIRCUMNAVIGATION TO SCREEN ON INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION
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>> DATE: APRIL 29th, 2002
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An historic first attempt to circumnavigate the world by human power is shortly coming to the small screen in the form of a 3 x 1 hour documentary on the Discovery Channel. Customers of the Sky digital TV platform in the UK will be able to tune in this Sunday evening (May 5th) to a Special Feature debut of the programs – with interactive elements – which spans the expedition’s tenuous beginnings in England in 1994 to the completion of the first ever pedal powered crossing of the Pacific Ocean in August 2000.
**BACKGROUND**
Since departing the Greenwich Meridian Line in 1994, British born Jason Lewis (34yrs) has traveled 28,000 miles – two-thirds around the planet - without assistance from either motors or the wind; pedaling a one-of-a-kind pedal boat 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 pedal partner Steve Smith (now retired from the expedition) 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 by roller blades.
**PROGRAM DETAILS**
Episode 1: ‘Cycling To America’. This first episode will take the viewer from the very start of the project – the initial idea, building of the pedal boat, etc – to the launch from the Greenwich Meridian Line in July 1994, the pedaling of the Channel in Moksha a few days later, the bike ride through France, Spain and Portugal, and ultimately the program highlight, Steve and Jason pedaling 4,300 miles in 111 days across the Atlantic Ocean to Miami.
By the time they reach the South East coast of the US, Steve and Jason are sick of the sight of each other and desperate to get off the boat and run in opposite directions. Another challenge along the way is when Steve gets washed over board during a vicious capsize and temporarily lost at sea. Jason’s main concern before Steve reappears clinging to a rope that has tied miraculously around his ankle and saved him from being washed away is whether he will be able to pedal the remaining 2,000 miles to Miami by himself.
Program start time: 8 p.m. Sunday 5th May. Duration: 1 hour.
Episode 2: ‘Into the Pacific’. Picking up from Steve and Jason’s triumphant arrival into Miami Florida, ‘Into the Pacific’ takes the viewer across the USA by the two different routes that Steve and Jason chose (to be away from each other!): Steve biking with his companion Eilbhe Donovan though the deep south; Jason rollerblading through the centre states. The camera catches up with Jason in Colorado shortly he was run over by an old man on his way to a cataract operation. He is being wheeled into the hospital operating theatre where doctors will attempt to save his badly smashed legs. Nine months later he’s out of the wheel chair and up skating the final 1,700 miles to San Francisco with April Abril, an American schoolteacher who is destined to rejoin the expedition in episode 3.
Steve and Jason then regroup and together pedal the 2,300 miles from San Francisco to Hilo, Hawaii, where Steve decides he has had enough and leaves the expedition for good. The pair have a number of final adventures together along the way: at one point Steve tries to reverse the pedal boat over a 18 ft Tiger shark as a practical joke to wind Jason up. Much Anglo-Saxon profanity ensues.
Jason carries on alone, pedaling a similar distance – 2,400 miles - from Hawaii to the tiny island atoll of Tarawa, in the Republic of Kiribati. This is the first time Jason has been without company on the boat and the monotony of pedaling and extreme loneliness of the 73-day voyage sees him gradually descend into a semi insane state of schizophrenia in which he conducts regular conversations with fish and four other ‘crew members’.
Program start time: 9 p.m. Sunday 5th May. Duration: 1 hour.
Episode 3: ‘Road to Australia’. Chris Tipper, one of the two original builders of the pedal boat, joins Jason for a humorous 21-day pedal to the war-torn Solomon Islands (1,100 miles). April then re-enters the story, helping Jason to pedal the remaining 1,100 miles to Australia. This is the first time a woman has been aboard and, unfortunately for poor April - who has never been on a boat before - it turns out to be the most challenging section of the Pacific voyage so far: gale force winds and 30+ ft waves pound the boat for almost the entire 32-day crossing, pushing the tiny craft dangerously near Papua New Guinea and threatening to wash the entire expedition up on the Great Barrier Reef – literally! The episode ends with Lewis deciding to accept a tow through the reef to avoid the pedal boat being destroyed and possibly losing life aboard. Once back on land Lewis is destined to spend the next four months living in a shopping mall with the boat on display, raising funds for the next leg: mountain biking across the outback to Darwin.
Program start time: 10 p.m. Sunday 5th May. Duration: 1 hour.
**QUOTE**
"Its hard enough as it is to pedal across an ocean without having to think about recording the trial and tribulations on film. One of the most difficult things was to remember to turn the camera on when disaster struck – you’re normally too busy with reacting to the situation or it’s all over so quickly that you don’t always catch the moment. But its worth it when you see it all condensed into three hours. Its very candid, ‘no frills’ stuff. If you’re looking for a polished ‘Survivor-style’ documentary written by producers in the safety of an office then you’ll need to switch to another channel." Jason Lewis
**INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS**
An interactive experience is also available to viewers during the programs. Interesting tidbits about the people, technology involved and geography encountered en route can be periodically triggered with the click of the remote control and appear in the form of drop down text overlays in front of the main program.
**FUTURE**
Lewis reached Darwin, Australia in October 2001, having mountain biked 3,000 miles across the outback from Cairns in the NE Queensland coast. The next leg, starting as soon as sufficient funds can be raised, will comprise pedalling Moksha to East Timor, then kayaking 2,000 miles up the Indonesian chain of islands to Malaysia. Next the expedition will bicycle through Thailand, Laos into China then hike south over the Himalayas into India. From this point, a 2,200-mile crossing of the Indian Ocean to East Africa is planned. The adventure will continue through North Africa and Europe to finish at the Greenwich Meridian Line, it's original starting point, sometime in 2006. It will have taken a total of 12 years to complete the circumnavigation.
Additional information can be found on the web at www.goals.com/expedition360/
Discovery Networks Europe (DNE) operates nine channels on twelve networks; Discovery Channel, Discovery Home & Leisure, Discovery Health, Discovery Animal Planet, Discovery Civilisation, Discovery Sci-Trek, Discovery Travel & Adventure, Discovery Kids, Discovery Wings, Discovery Channel +1, Discovery Home and Leisure +1 and Discovery Animal Planet +1.
Since launching in 1989, DNE’s European subscriber base has risen to over 94 million subscribers channel by channel. Its channels are now available in 51 countries and territories across Europe, the Middle East and South Africa and are customised into 20 languages, via 34 feeds. Please see www.discoveryeurope.com for more information.
DNE is wholly owned by Discovery Communications Inc, which is a privately held, diversified media company with headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
For Further Information on Discovery Networks Europe (DNE) please contact:
Stephen Pain, press co-coordinator
Discovery Channel
Telephone: 020 7462 3675
Email: stephen_pain@discovery-europe.com
For photographic material, please contact:
Sam Spurgeon, DNE Picture Editor
Telephone: 020 7462 3651
Email: sam_spurgeon@discovery-europe.com
For Live interviews with any of the expedition team, please contact:
Jason Lewis
Expedition 360
(1) 719 489 3353 (7 hours behind the UK)
Email: jason_x360@yahoo.com
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Posted by jason at April 29, 2002 11:47 AM