I was involved in this amazing project last year and will be again this year. Something that has defined who I am and what I believe in. Watch this space in 2011!

Press Release!

Following the success of the 2010 expedition, organisers of the 2011 Coast 2 Coast 4 CANSA campaign announced their plans for this year on World Cancer Day (Friday, 4 February, 2011). Four Jet Ski pilots, four motorbike riders, a border to border gruelling ex...

It's been a long road of war with my musty. I dont like the thing but I love that I can do something in the fight against mens related cancer while raising some funds and awareness for CANSA!

Can't wait to get this thing of my face so here is the final pic all the way from Dubai

Week 5 - Final Day

Here is the build up to this chaos!

Week 1              &...

Walking into meetings last week with this musty was not easy but luckily Movember is so wide spead that I was certainly not the only one. Proud to support the cause in such numbers! Go Boys!

One week to go with one last photo next week. What you think so far?

Week 1                              Week 2                    &nbs...

Thought I would have trimmed the mo by now. Sorry, not yet. Been hectic and kind of enjoying not shaving. Watch beck next week and will deffinately be in a propper mo by then!

Here are the photos of the mo's weekly process!

Day 1                              Week 1                        &n...

It's been a week since the start of Movember where I challenged my readers to post a pick each week of their mo here. Well here is mine. Still early days and think by next weeks picture I will have had to clean it up. How's your mo going?

Week 1                            Week 2               &nbs...

I am taking on the Movember challenge. Who is keen to join in this world wide statement for mens health issue's and cancer?

Check out the Cansa, Movember website here for more details: http://za.movember.com/ 

On a personal note take a photo of yourself today clean shaven and post it on your blog, twitter or facebook and update the photo once a week to show the world your musty progress. Keeps your head in the game and show your support.

So here is my before photo, watch out for updates in the weeks to come!

Week 1&n...

Have had a lot of question and comments about the colour of my new ski. Yes it is bright Pink.  

How cool is this!

Been waiting for these for a while. When it was big, there were not time to grab camera's as we were in survival mode. This meant a lot of the big stuff went unrecorded. When we went past Hout Bay a boat joined us for a bit with some friends. Jean Tresfon got some awesome shots. The first pics that tell how big it can really get out there and what we went through around the raw SA coastline. Check these out! Thanks to Jean for the pics!

HOLD

Getting out t...

Press Release

Quote

The C2C4C crew had the great opportunity to fly to Joberg yesterday to attend the launch of one of Acer’s new offerings. Russ, Oj, Bennie, Pat and myself hit the 6am flight to the welcome of the Acer marketing people for breakfast on the other end.

In the preparations for C2C4C our expedition leader Russel Symcox got in touch with an adventurer named Jeremy Burfoot who rode around New Zealand to raise awareness for cancer on a jetski.

I recently did an interview for Acer (C2C4C sponsor) about my experience on the trip. Nice cap off after the trip. Amazing we still getting good awareness with SABC news this week and an Article in the Sunday Tribune. Stoked.

It’s been a week since the dream of C2C4C became a reality. I have really tried hard to update the diary entry but this specific last day needed some processing before putting thoughts to paper. Sorry it a week late but here is the diary entry for day 23, a day I will remember as one that changed my life.

930am – Sitting 12km into the ride I think I had my worst nightmare. If the west coast wasn’t kicking us in the balls enough Jason’s ski had an electrical malfunction and we had to hit reverse and tow him back to the start. What a mission. We had to set up another spare ski and fill it with petrol. All of this wet and super cold. The water here is frik cold, way colder than even Cape Town which meant froze on the beach for ages. Never been that cold.

845am pushed out of the bay with big hopes of covering some decent distance to make up for yesterdays missed riding. No such luck. The 7m swell that was rolling up the coast and 20 knot head wind mean slow going.

7am – Woke up and looked outside, the wind was blowing so hard the birds were walking down the beach and the rain was bucketing. Picked up my phone and saw an sms to the team calling off the day. What a relief.

930am – Leaving CT out the V & A under the backdrop of table mountain was special. CT was a big milestone and the feeling is the we are on the homeward leg now that we are heading up the west coast.

7am – hit the long drive out to Millers. Everything is far in CT and seem to be driving forever here. Awesome views, cape is awesome when the weather comes right.

9am - Hotel breakfast getting tired by now and opt for some cool muesli and yogurt to make it interesting. Still half asleep when was asked to pick up some slack by driving trailers across town. Eish. Cancelled some plans to meet friend on the day off and headed out to the Yamaha in strand to make sure the waverunners were all on track to get us round the point tomorrow. The extra sleep doing me wonders.

9am – Later start but still min sleep after one hell of a day yesterday on the water for every minute of light. Wind had hit as predicted and the ground crew who kakked on us for pushing it was now coming round to understand the move and how it had kept us in the game.

620am – the team rounded the Mossel Bay point on route. Vibe in the air of only one goal, hurry up. The weather reports were saying there was some very bad weather on its way off CT and if we could run as far as possible we could maybe still make Miller point tomorrow on time but we had to push.

8am – Latest start on tour so far. Simple things make me smile. Climbed into a new thicker 4mm dry wetsuit today as well. Rocked my world.

6am – Standing on Hoby Beach in pitch black dark. As we move down the coast the light changes and we are no longer able to launch as early as when we started. First sign of the shear distance we have covered already.  

445am – Wake to an early alarm. Think for a minute what the hell the alarm was for if we were on a rest day. Realise it was my alarm and not a practical joke for one of the team. Off Jason and drove to J-Bay some hour away for a first light surf.

7am – All on time this morning leaving the harbour. Haha. Over the previous days admin after a great sleep. Rest does wanders for the mood and state of mind.

730am – Got Kakked on for being late this morning. Flip, wasn’t my fault, bummed.

8am – some 20min into our ride we came across an Orka, Whale and a Sun Fish within 300m of each other. Surprised we saw that much. The conditions were terrible. Cold and Raining! The cold rain on my goggles kept misting them up and couldn’t see a thing. Hit a low point with emotions of the Cansa visit yesterday and getting kakked on for the wrong reasons. Had to bite my tongue and appreciate how go I got it, and toughen the f... up.

7am - Went for a surf at nahoon with good mate Steve Woods to make the most of our rest day in East London. Surf was kak due to a strong rip. To add insult fell on the rocks getting out and dinged my board. Not happy!

10am – Much needed sleep, loving the Garden Court double bed and thick curtains.

1230pm – 2 freeze land milkshakes, best in the world

1pm – Hung out with the Manson and Keet clan. Last time I was here I raced the southern Shamaal with Bev so shared some good laughs. Their swimming school is growing and great to see...

7am - If I thought the sea was in a good mood yesterday well. Today we were getting pampered. Super clean running the whole day. Never forgot or broke anything at the launch, moving up in the world.

630am Had a mare this morning, couldn’t find my GPS and dropped my phone in the water (working after a day in the sun). Need to stop making stupid mistakes in preparations for riding.

I ahve been taking picture along the way but for some reason the photo uploader on www.barrylewin.co.za is not working. Dave the IT doods is on the problem and hope it will be sorted soon.

If you do want to check out the photos here is a link to the ones I have put on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=426701&id=740590248&saved#!/album.php?id=7...

630am - Much later start than before. Weather looked good and the team really needed some sleep so we pushed out a little later. Packed my bags for the next 3 weeks and all the riding gear. Going to miss home and Peace Cottage. Just one night back was awesome.

4am - After the admin of yesterday spirits were quite down last night and could see on Rusty’s face the stress and worry when I woke to see him wide awake contemplating the task for the day.

630am - Arrive at breakfast to find a upbeat team considering the wind outside was almost shaking the hotel. Everyone was super amped to take on the challenge of some rough sea condition. Talk is cheap so time for action.

8am - Made our way out of the protection of the Richards Bay harbour on route to Durban. Just outside the mouth of the harbour Mark Addison stopped to take his water sample for the marine research he is doing. When we got going Jason’s waverunner wouldn’t start. His external fuel bladder was leaking and the motor was cutting out due to the petro...

4am – Another early start, getting used to them and only hit snooze once.

530am – Almost lost my phone. Put it down when pulling the wetsuit up and forgot it. Lucky to find it in the road some half hour later using some car lights. Admin when your mind is on riding not cool.

6am - Delayed launch with Mark missing some of his testing kit. At least I am not the only one.
730am - Hit the water for day 3

4am - Hit the snooze on my phone alarm for the first time

415am - Finally got up, didn’t sleep well, got chowed 6 love my mozzy’s

6am - On the water for the first ride of the trip.

730am - Sat in traffic for 55min to drive 20km heading into Durban, with world cup just around the corner the city is under contrition. Ecited to get out the chaos of the city and the road less travelled over the next 3 weeks.

Well the day has come. Time to head off on the adventure of a lifetime. I am going to be documenting the trip for many reasons mostly to be able to look back in 50 years and see what I got up to and how crazy we all were.

I am going to be writing a blog each evening which will be a basic diary entry and I would write it in my own diary. Hope it gives you some insight into what we will be going through on this trip. Good and the bad. So please check back for daily updates.

Thanks for the well wishes and message. Every single one makes me realise how much suppo...

Press Release

Quote

World renowned marine expert Mark Addison, who is one of the six Coast2Coast4CANSA jet ski pilots who will be riding the 1511 nautical miles from Mozambique to Namibia to raise funds and awareness for cancer, will also be conducting the first ever mega-transect of the South African coast from a personal water craft during the expedition.

The four week expedition, which is ...

C2C4C is gaining momentum and as I start talking taling to people about the trip I have had numerous question and the most common is 'Why?'

The crew got a mail from Dylan Slier off the www.coast2coast4cansa.co.za website.

Here is what he said and answers the question 'Why'

hey guy my name is dylan slier i am 16 years old, i think that coast2coast4cansa i a awesome way of supporting cancer. for three years my mother faught against brest cancer,my father two sisters and i all had to look after her for those three years i...

Press Release - Olivia Jone Communications!

The Sharks’ social responsibility initiatives took on a whole new and interesting complexion on Thursday when five months of beard were unceremoniously – but with great care – removed from the face of Rory Kockott.

There has been a couple posts on the blog recently about the Coast 2 Coast 4 Cansa.

Picture thanks to Kelvin Trautman and www.coast2coast4cansa.co.za

Well I spend most of the day today with the crew shoing off our waverunners to the media and answering questions. We got stuck into the Cansa shaveathon drive where Jason and Mark got their heads shaved. I got my head sprayed with pink and green paint...

The massive 225km route on google!

I have signed up for this amazing adventure and time to get my ass into gear and get going. Some of the team did a training session on the south coast yesterday. I have only ever spent like 30min playing on a ski so this was my first long haul run.

The planned course was from Omkomaas River to port Edward and back, a distance I didn’t know before we set out. Refuel and some food before  turning around for the ride back...

If you follow my tweet’s you will have noticed me talking about C2C4C. Well it’s about time I did a Blog on this exciting project I have signed up for.