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Pedal The Ocean: Canada to Hawaii to Benefit Kimberlee’s Bikes for Kids

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pedal-the-ocean-boat

In June 2010, Greg Kolodziejzyk will attempt to be the first person to cross the Pacific from Victoria, Canada, to Hawaii.  He’ll pedal a custom made boat called WiTHiN some 3,000 miles on a mission to raise awareness for and curb childhood obesity.

According to his site (and people watching in Wal-Mart…Hay-oooo) , 1 in 3 North American kids are overweight, which costs us more than $13 billion per year in the U.S. and $1 billion in Canada.  With more than 8 million families below the poverty line in North America, many families are unable to afford to give their kids bicycles (even the cheap ones at Wal-Mart), so kids don’t have bikes to ride to get exercise.

Greg has his Pedal The Ocean website set up to let you (yes you!) make a donation to sponsor a mile for $50.  For every sponsored mile he pedals, Kimberlee’s Bikes for Kids will give away a bicycle to a child whose family can’t afford one.  The goal is to giveaway 3,000 bicycles at the end of the ride.

Hit ‘more’ to see the inside of the WiTHiN pedal boat and the schematic

pedal-the-ocean-inside-boat

How’d you like to spend 40 to 80 days sleeping, eating and pedaling in this?  Alone.

pedal-the-ocean-real-boat

Actually, this is what the real WitTHiN boat that he’ll be pedaling looks like.  The sexier red one at the top of this post was a prototype.  This version gives him more room, including a separate sleeping compartment:

pedal-the-ocean-boat-dimensions

Click to enlarge.  My favorite is the technically termed “bucket squatting-over area.”

pedal-the-ocean-cutaway

This cutaway shows the propeller (barely visible against the black background on bottom) which generates 150 watts of input power at 80rpm cadence.  That’s good for speeds of 8 to 9 km/h (5 to 5.5 mph).

Greg’s website has hundreds of photos and lots more info, as well as plenty of social media links if you want to track his progress leading up to and during the expedition.  He’ll be updating daily via satellite phone.

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Benjamin Wojcik
14 years ago

It will be an heroic feat to cross the “Atlantic” from Canada to Hawaii indeed.

John
John
14 years ago

Aye, matey, aren’t you afraid of pirates?

john
john
14 years ago

Also:

Why no floor window? It might be nice to see the status of the Keel and prop, as well as entertaining to observe the underwater world.

What measures are you taking to prevent damage from curious sea life, such as a great white, from taste-testing your craft?

Pretty neat craft. I will be following your journey…

Chris
Chris
14 years ago

Benjamin Wojcik :

He’ll be starting from Victoria BC, too, so there’s some rough boating ahead of him.

And everyone knows that pedalling recumbents uphill is hard, so you know that crossing the Rockies is going to require a lot of stamina…

Greg Duncan
Greg Duncan
14 years ago

Crossing the Atlantic??? Pacific seems more likely.

Steve
Steve
14 years ago

I think you mean he’ll cross the Pacific, not the Atlantic! Crossing the Atlantic from Victoria, BC would really be a feat!

Kristi Benedict
Admin
14 years ago
Reply to  Steve

Oops! Thanks guys. We’ve corrected it…

Mark Farmer
14 years ago

Love the design!

All valid questions. What’s the durability against pounding waves & aggressive predators? And wouldn’t it seem important to have a clear bubble in the floor to perform undercarriage inspections? And of course, a floor window would provide entertainment & emotional “bouyancy”, too.

I’ll be following the progress, eagerly. Godspeed & Bon Voyage!

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