Ultimate Ride team rescued by Greek Air Force

MEDIA RELEASE                                                                                                                                                                      3 September 2010

Ultimate Ride team rescued by Greek Air Force  

Jeremy Burfoot, Travis Donoghue and Ivan Otulic from The Ultimate Ride team were on Tuesday rescued by a Greek Air Force helicopter about 60km south-east of Santorini in the Aegean Sea.

The three men set out at 5am that day from the island of Karpathos with the intention of making Santorini before a predicted worsening of the weather in the region. Three hours later they had made the half-way point, but the weather worsened and they found themselves riding into 60-70km per hour winds and battling 3-4m waves almost head on.

Team leader Burfoot said that progress slowed to about 15km per hour and their Sea-doos were taking immense punishment, often being completely submerged by waves. The machines were slowly taking on water as their forward speed was inadequate for the venturi bilge system to function properly. Auxiliary bilge pumps that the team had installed all failed because of the extreme conditions. Eventually the first machine started having multiple problems because its hull was flooded with water. While this was being dealt with, the second Seadoo succumbed to the same problems and the third was showing signs of distress.

At around 10.30am the team made the decision to set off their GME PLB (personal locater beacons) and await rescue.

They were pulled from the water by a Greek Air Force helicopter around 1.30pm with no injuries except cuts, bruises and sunburn.

Burfoot said he was impressed by how long the Sea-doos coped with the atrocious conditions. "No PWC (personal water craft, or jet-ski) is designed for hours and hours of that sort of punishment,” he said. “I can't speak highly enough about the handling and ride of the S3 Hull, especially given the weight of gear and equipment we were carrying."

Burfoot also said that "the GME beacons were life savers".

The new 406 GPS equipped beacons, which are not much bigger than a mobile phone, sent a GPS position accurate to within 10m direct to the Rescue Coordination Centre in Wellington, New Zealand. The RCC contacted the Greek authorities and the helicopter was directed straight to the three men. They were lifted to nearby Santorini, taken to hospital for a check up and then later discharged.

Burfoot said that the team would like to thank the Greek Air Force team and the Coastguard team on Santorini for their professionalism and helpful and friendly attitude.

The men are in Santorini for the next few days to deal with formalities. Their mission to promote awareness of healthy living and the early detection of cancer will continue through other means.

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