Greg Kolodziejzyk set a new 24-hour HPV record last year. When he got done with that he started right in on a new record. He’s building a boat to pedal across the Atlantic—and he hopes to get the fastest human-powered crossing record.
Oh, and last year he also set the new pedal-boat solo 24-hour record of 174km—to test the drive and base hull of his Atlantic boat.
(I note that after he set his record that he discovered that kayaker Carter Johnson had set a new overall HP boat record (with paddle, not pedal) of 250km—far longer. Greg complained that no officials had notified him of this as he prepped for his record—and he agitated for proper acknowledgment of the other guy’s overall record. I thought it was nice of Greg to pump up the other achievement—which was neat to learn about in its own right. Carter did it on one of those supercool Huki surfskis—the kind we hardly see (along with flatwater K1’s) here in the US but which thousands use Down Under and in S. Africa. But pedal *should* be faster, I would think. Maybe just for touring. We’ll see! Greg would like to take another shot, using a hull made for speed instead of the Atlantic hull.)
The boat Greg is building for the big crossing is “fully faired” and he’s documenting the whole thing. I think this boat is the first “fully faired” HPB used for a crossing record—it’s a great concept as wind and water both put lots of drag on a hull shape and a smooth shape greatly reduces all such drag. It should also be very strong. How much faster will this full fairing be? Let’s find out!
He’s also started a “KidPower” program, encouraging kids to go for their dreams and to get off their butts. He said that speaking before a huge audience of kids is the scariest thing he’s done yet.
Actually, that’s his goal beyond his goals! He does his adventures to have something to talk about. Seems a bit backward to me, but actually his goal beyond his goal (beyond his goal) is to inspire people to get more out of their lives. He’s into Uplift. He wants to provoke it via speaking. He does the adventures to have a story. Whew! People are liking his talks. I bet he’s good! Check out his Motivational Speaker site: www.human-power.com.
His “Pedal the Ocean” homepage has a link to a “capsize test” video showing how the boat holds up to abuse.
Greg’s projects are amazing in how well documented they are. Greg and his team build everything—with Greg very hands-on. There are pics and vids of each step. (And the vid-cams are sometimes everywhere!) Greg is also open to public input.
Oh, and this Atlantic record project seems to be only like one quarter of the projects that Greg is doing.
As I mentioned in my other blurb about his bike record, an amazing thing is that Greg seems to be funding all these projects with the proceeds from his stock market predicting software. Amazing, indeed!
https://www.pedaltheocean.com/
