Human-Powered Hamster Wheel Craft To Make Passage

Tired of spending a fortune on fuel? Go hamster-power!

British adventurer Chris Todd plans to "walk" across the Irish Sea on a unique human hamster-wheel raft, according to his web site. The nearly 60-nautical-mile journey is expected to take 40 hours, and he plans to start out with the next weather window. The feat is to help raise funds for England's Wiltshire Blind Association and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

"Training for this event is at a different level to my previous challenges," Chris states on his web site. "I will have to keep up significant effort for two days. Think of it as two days on a stepper-machine, without sleep. I have walked non-stop for 48 hours on two previous occasions" (see web site for info on Chris's previous challenges).

"The plan is to cross the Irish Sea leaving Wales from Treaddur Bay, Anglesea, arriving on the East coast of Ireland at some point South of Dublin. The intent is to head due West and allow the North/South tides to generate a "saw tooth" path across the sea to Ireland. As it will be very difficult to predict my progress Westwards it will be tricky to forecast the exact arrival point on the Irish coast.

"A support boat will accompany me on the crossing to take care of radio and navigation, which I will not have the mental capacity for, but other than that the aim is to make the crossing self sufficient in every way."

waterwayguide.com