« June 2007 | Main | August 2007 »

July 25, 2007

HUMAN POWERED CIRCUMNAVIGATION DISPUTE CLARIFIED by INDEPENDENT PANEL

Definitive rules for circumnavigations of the world completed by human power have been published by AdventureStats of Explorers Web Inc., an independent panel of international historians, geographers and explorers, whose conclusions will ratify existing guidelines held by Guinness (Book of Records). The rulings will also clarify the recent dispute between teams from three nations - Britain, Canada and Turkey - regarding the long sought after title to achieve the circumnavigation of the planet by human power.

In April this year a major row erupted in the international press between Briton Jason Lewis, Canadian Colin Angus and Turk/long time US resident Erden Eruc over the definition of a legitimate Human Powered Circumnavigation (HPC). Angus, who claims to have completed an HPC in May 2006, traveled exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere, which according to Lewis and Eruc does not entitle him to claim a circumnavigation of the entire world. Guinness also refuted the claim by Angus as their criteria for human powered circumnavigation feats require the traveler to cross both the equator and at least one pair of antipodal points (locations on the surface of the planet that are diametrically opposite to each other).

In turn Angus accused Guinness of setting the rules on what constitutes a human-powered circumnavigation to suit a Briton - Lewis.

More on the controversy in the National Geography Adventure magazine - http://www.expedition360.com/press_room/clippings_arabian_sea/76_nat_geo.pdf
And in the UK Guardian - http://www.expedition360.com/press_room/clippings_arabian_sea/77_guardian.pdf

The new rules come down heavily in favour of the existing guidelines set by Guinness, and for the circumnavigation attempts currently underway by Lewis and Eruc. The panel of experts recognize Lewis as being first in line to complete a human powered circumnavigation, a long sought after 'grail' of circumnavigation aspirants since 18 members of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition completed the first circumnavigation of the world under sail in 1522.

The rules set by Explorers Web Inc. require the circumnavigator to -
> Start and finish at the same point, traveling in one general direction
> Reach two antipodes
> Cross the equator
> Cross all longitudes
> Cover a minimum of 40,000km or 21,600NM (a great circle)

A complete set of rules and regulations for Human Powered Circumnavigation are posted at http://www.adventurestats.com/rules.shtml#around
A background story can be read at http://www.theoceans.net/news.php?id=16231


EXPLORERS WEB INC., describes itself as 'a pioneers checkpoint', offering breaking news and indepth features on the activities of the international exploration community and links to partner websites and other sources who also carry statistics. They offered this advise to Colin Angus -

"To...Colin we would suggest the term 'around the Northern Hemisphere'".

More on AdventureStats - http://www.adventurestats.com/
More on Explorers Web Inc. - http://www.explorersweb.com/


EXPEDITION 360 - BACKGROUND
Since departing the Greenwich Meridian Line in 1994, Jason Lewis and an international team have traveled over 40,000 miles around the planet without wind or motor assistance -- pedaling a one-of-a-kind pedal boat ('Moksha', meaning liberation in Sanskrit) across the world's oceans, bicycling and rollerblading over land. Other modes of human power have included swimming and kayaks for crossing rivers and straits of water between islands, and walking over certain difficult land sections where wheeled propulsion is not feasible.

Currently pedaling a bicycle through Syria, Lewis is entering the final stages of a 13-year marathon attempt which will end October 6th 2007, at the same spot he started from with previous expedition partner Steve Smith in July, 1994: the Prime Meridian of longitude at Greenwich in London, UK.

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 pedaling 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.

Expedition 360 is comprised of 16 sections, each constituting major expeditions in themselves. Put back to back they make the circumnavigation attempt one of the longest endurance feats in history.

http://www.expedition360.com/logbook/home.htm

The African leg (that Lewis is about to finish in Istanbul, Turkey) has been the toughest overland section, with temperatures in northern Sudan reaching well over 50 degrees. The absence of any roads at times has made the going exceptionally tough, with Lewis having to push his 15-year old steel-frame bicycle, the same one he started the expedition with back in 1994, through deep sand for tens of kilometres at any one time.

"It's been unbelievably hot these past few weeks" says Lewis. "I never thought it would be possible to bike through temperatures over half-way to boiling point! There comes a point after midday when it just becomes too hot to do anything other than dissolve in a puddle of sweat in the shade - if I'm lucky enough to find any - for the rest of the day. It's been really awful at times, but seeing the light at the end of the tunnel - crossing the Greenwich Meridian Line - has kept my spirits going when my body has wanted to give up".

Upon crossing the border illegally between Sudan and Egypt Lewis was apprehended by border security and detained for 36 hours. During the ensuing interrogation by Egyptian military intelligence he was faced with charges of espionage with a minimum prison sentence of 40 years. Permission was granted at the 11th hour by Security Head Quarters in Cairo, freeing Lewis and allowing him to continue with the circumnavigation.
http://www.expedition360.com/press_room/clippings_africa/79_daily_mail.pdf


X360 - ENVIRONMENTAL MESSAGE & CLIMATE CHANGE
As a zero-emissions initiative, X360 also seeks to further young people's understanding of the impact of their individual lifestyles on global climate change, in particular with regard to carbon footprints. A curriculum-based program 'Ecological Footprints' was launched in 1999 by X360 for teachers and school children to utilize in the classroom.
http://www.expedition360.com/schools/ecological_footprints.htm


X360 - SCHOOLS' PROGRAMS
As a 501 (c) (3) registered Non for Profit organization, the X360 team are committed to using the adventure both as an educational tool for furthering children’s learning experiences in the classroom and as a platform from which to implement a variety of cultural exchange activities that empower young people in better understanding their role both as local community and world citizens.

Young Explorers are also invited to join sections of the expedition as international embassadors where they work with expedition team members to develop standard's based curricula for the 9-18 yr old range. World Citizens from around the planet are invited to document their culture and community with videos and photo albums to share with others around the globe.
http://www.expedition360.com/schools/young_explorers.htm


X360 - CHARITABLE CAUSE
The expedition has raised over $66,000 USD for small-scale charitable causes along the way, such as orphanages, hospices for adults and children living with HIV and AIDS.
http://www.expedition360.com/schools/humanitarian_effort.htm


X360 - FACTOIDS
> Total Timeframe: 13 years, 2 months, 23 days, 11 hours or, 4833 days and 11 hours
> Start date: 1pm July 12th 1994. End date: 12 noon 6th October 2007
> Total distance traveled: 46,505 miles or 74,408 kms
> Price tag: to date the expedition has cost in excess of $400,000 USD - most of which has been raised by grass roots fundraising along the way and working odd jobs. However since June 2006 the expedition has enjoyed title sponsorship from Aberdeen Asset Management, a Singapore based investment group.
http://www.aberdeen-asset.com/aam.nsf/Singapore/Home


X360 - MISHAPS
> Sept 1995: Jason suffers compound fractures to both legs after being run over by a car while in-line skating through Colorado USA. Initial prognosis was amputation of left leg (below the knee). However after extensive insertion of hardware including metal rods in each tibia he is able to continue after 9 months of recuperation.
> Nov 1998: pedal boat Moksha capsizes in a storm during the second attempt to pedal to Hawaii from the California coast. No one is injured although the boat's interior is completely destroyed.
> June 2000: Jason contracts septicemia (blood poisoning) 1,300 miles from land pedaling between the islands of Hawaii and Tarawa (Republic of Kiribati). A US based doctor of Dermatology achieves a remote diagnosis via Iridium satellite phone and prescribes broad spectrum antibiotics before the poison reaches brain tissue, undoubtedly saving his life.
> Oct 2004: Jason undergoes surgery for 2 x torn hernias and worn knee cartilage. Doctors predict he will need a knee replacement within 10 years from the constant wear and tear of human powered travel.
> May 2005: a 17 foot salt water crocodile attacks Jason's kayak in shallow water 100 miles north of Cooktown, Cape York, Australia. His paddle is destroyed fending off the croc, otherwise Jason escapes unscathed.
> November 2005: Jason contracts malaria twice in six months: first on the island of Sumatra (Plasmodia Vivax) while paddling through Indonesia and again in Laos with the potentially lethal cerebral version (Plasmodia Falciparum).
> September 2006: Jason survives acute Altitude Sickness at 5,200 metres while biking over Lalung Pass in Tibet's Himalaya region.
> June 2007: after crossing the border between Sudan and Egypt illegally Jason is detained and interrogated by Egyptian Army Intelligence for two days. He is charged with espionage and faces 40 years in military prison.
> the expedition has been the victim of four robberies: one successful (Mexico) and three attempted also involving violence (Indonesia, India and France).


INTERVIEWS - IMAGES - TV NEWS FOOTAGE
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

Hi-res archive images are available online -
http://homepage.mac.com/expedition360/

Please contact us for a password. team@expedition360.com


DAILY UPDATES
Regular updates and archived journals from this leg can be read from
here.

http://www.expedition360.com/journal/

Or you can find the link off the expedition360.com homepage
http://www.expedition360.com


+++++++++ENDs++++++++++

Posted by jason at 1:18 PM

July 24, 2007

HUMAN POWERED CIRCUMNAVIGATION ARRIVES IN EGYPT…. AND COMES FACE TO FACE WITH ANIMAL POWER

Jason Lewis of Expedition 360, a British attempt to complete the first circumnavigation of the world using only human power, will be turning his attention from human power to animal power for the first time during his 13-year challenge when he visits the work of the Brooke equine charity in Egypt this week.

The purpose of the visit is to learn more about the work of the UK-funded Brooke charity, which works to alleviate the suffering of equine animals working in some of the poorest communities in the world. Despite spending the last 13 years using his own power to circumnavigate the globe, Lewis is a strong advocate of how poverty affects the treatment of animals and how important animals are to the livelihoods of milions of people worldwide. Lewis will be visiting the Brooke’s work in Luxor on Saturday 7th July (details of the photo call below).

"Over the last 13-years I've passed on the road, or met face to face, literally thousands of people across 26 countries whose livelihoods depend heavily upon equines: for carrying drinking water, fuel for cooking and goods to and from market. Very often the condition and ill-treatment of the animals is extremely distressing to witness," explains Lewis.

“I have known about the outstanding and vital work the Brooke has provided to the equine world since my childhood - my parents both being avid supporters over the years. And being brought up around animals on a farm in the West Country I have a special interest and empathy with animals."

The Brooke has been helping working equine animals and supporting their sustainable use for over seventy years, concentrating mainly on the Middle East, North and East Africa, Asia and, most recently, South America. In Egypt, where the charity was founded in 1934, it has a network of 24 mobile teams providing desperately needed care to stricken animals and working with their owners across the country – from Edfu to Marsah Matrouh.

At present Lewis is biking through Egypt, the last country in Africa before he reaches the Middle East and Europe to finish the circumnavigation back at the Greenwich Meridian Line in East London, where he started in July 1994. The African leg has been the toughest overland section, with temperatures in the Nubian Desert, Northern Sudan, reaching well over 55 degrees each day. The absence of any roads at times has made the going exceptionally tough, with Lewis having to push his 15-year old steel-frame bicycle, the same one he started the expedition with back in 1994, through deep sand for tens of kilometres at any one time. For 200kms before reaching the Egyptian border he was faced with no access to water at all.

"It's been unbelievably hot these past few weeks" says Lewis. "I never thought it would be possible to bike through temperatures over half-way to boiling point! There comes a point after midday when it just becomes too hot to do anything other than dissolve in a puddle of sweat in the shade - if I'm lucky enough to find any - for the rest of the day. It's been really awful at times, but seeing the light at the end of the tunnel - crossing the Greenwich Meridian Line - has kept my spirits going when my body has wanted to give up".

Lewis has also encountered bureaucratic roadblocks through the Sudan and crossing into Egypt. He was kept waiting for a month in Ethiopia for a visa to enter to Sudan, and was initially told by the Egyptians he would not be able to cross Lake Nasser to the Aswan Dam by human powered means. Faced with the prospect of having to back-pedal all the way to Mumbai in India to seek an alternative route back to the UK via Pakistan and Iran, Lewis was eventually granted special permission by the Egyptian border authorities to pedal his bike through the desert to Aswan from the Sudanese border. Although his journey was hindered – albeit temporarily - when he was detained at a military detention centre facing charges of espionage.

As well as visiting over 800 schools since leaving England, the expedition has raised over £31,000 ($63,000 USD) for small-scale charitable causes along the way, such as orphanages, hospices for adults and children living with HIV and AIDS.

PHOTO CALL DETAILS FOR JASON LEWIS IN EGYPT

WHEN: Luxor, Saturday 6th July
WHERE: Meet outside Etap hotel on the Corniche at 7,30am on Sat 7th July
WHAT: Join Brooke Luxor team travelling by security convoy to Qus to see Brooke’s work where photos/filming can be taken of Jason

For more information about this photo call please contact Niki Austin, Head of PR at the Brooke on + 44 (0) 207 968 0833 (9am to 5pm UK time) or + 44 (0) 7884 435753.

Jason is available for interviews via his Egyptian mobile: +2 (0) 164 773340

BACKGROUND

BROOKE
More information on the Brooke can be found at www.thebrooke.org

EXPEDITION 360
Since departing the Greenwich Meridian Line in 1994, Jason Lewis has traveled 37,000 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.

Now into its 13th year, the expedition has comprised a total of 16 legs, each constituting major expeditions in themselves. Put back to back they make Expedition 360 one of the longest endurance endeavours in history.

THE PRICE TAG
To date the expedition has cost in excess of $400,000 USD - most of which has been raised by grass roots fundraising along the way and working odd jobs. However since June 2006 the expedition has enjoyed title sponsorship from Aberdeen Asset Management, a Singapore based investment company.


MISHAPS
> Sept 1995: Jason suffers compound fractures to both legs after being run over by a car while in-line skating through Colorado USA. Initial prognosis was the loss of the left leg below the knee. However after extensive insertion of hardware including metal rods in each tibia he is able to continue after 9 months of recuperation.
> Nov 1998: pedal boat Moksha capsizes in a storm during the second attempt to pedal to Hawaii from the California coast. No one is injured although the boat's interior is completely destroyed.
> June 2000: Jason contracts septicaemia (blood poisoning) 1,300 miles from land pedalling between the islands of Hawaii and Tarawa (Republic of Kiribati). A US based doctor in dermatology makes a positive diagnosis remotely via satellite phone and prescribes broad spectrum antibiotics before the poison reaches brain tissue, undoubtedly saving his life.
> Oct 2004: Jason undergoes surgery for 2 x torn hernias and worn knee cartilage. Doctors predict he will need a knee replacement within 10 years from the constant wear and tear of human powered travel.
> May 2005: a 17 foot salt water crocodile attacks Jason's kayak in shallow water 100 miles north of Cooktown, Cape York, Australia. His paddle is destroyed fending off the croc, otherwise Jason escapes unscathed.
> November 2005: Jason contracts malaria twice in six months: first on the island of Sumatra (Plasmodia Vivax) while paddling through Indonesia and again in Laos with the potentially lethal cerebral version (Plasmodia Falciparum).
> September 2006: Jason survives acute Altitude Sickness at 5,200 metres while biking over Lalung Pass in Tibet's Himalaya region.
> The expedition has been the victim of four robberies: one successful (Mexico) and three attempted that also involved violence (Indonesia, India and France).


WHAT'S NEXT
After completing the African and Middle East sections to Istanbul in Turkey, Lewis intends to ride across Europe and use the pedal boat to complete the circumnavigation by pedalling up the River Thames to the Greenwich Meridian Line late this October.


INTERVIEWS - IMAGES - TV NEWS FOOTAGE

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

Hi-res archive images are available online -
http://homepage.mac.com/expedition360/

Please contact us for a password. team@expedition360.com


DAILY UPDATES
Regular updates and archived journals from this leg can be read from
here.

http://www.expedition360.com/journal/

Or you can find the link off the expedition360.com homepage
http://www.expedition360.com


+++++++++ENDS++++++++++

Posted by jason at 1:15 PM