Charity ride sunk at sea

Jeremy Burfoot. Photo / Supplied

An ambitious 31,000km charity jetski ride has ended in acrimony and disarray as team members argue over what happened to the money raised.

Auckland airline pilot Jeremy Burfoot spent three years and thousands of dollars putting together a team to ride jetskis from London, through the Suez Canal and on to New Zealand.

But they made it only as far as the choppy Aegean Sea before the three jetskis foundered and they had to be rescued by the Greek Air Force. Now, the jetskis are at the bottom of the sea.

Adrian Erangey, London-based logistics manager for the venture, dubbed Ultimate Ride, said he had sought legal advice over something Burfoot published on his blog last month.

Burfoot had questioned what happened to about £3000 ($6180) in operational expenses and the proceeds from selling the team's Land Rover - but Erangey said he and his colleagues provided receipts for all the expenses.

"It was bribing money," Erangey told the Herald on Sunday from London. "You need to slip people bribing money to get things done quickly, so I allowed £1000 [$2060] for that. I didn't steal money."

The jetski ride was intended to raise money for cancer charities - Burfoot's father died of cancer, and his wife Manola is being treated for melanoma.

New Zealand's Harcourts Foundation gave $5000 in sponsorship, and said it remained happy with that commitment.

Australian campervan manufacturer Jayco promised $125,000, the website says, to get naming rights to what they regarded as an exciting sporting venture, but half of its sponsorship was conditional on the ride being completed.

The Melanoma Foundation of New Zealand is one of 13 charity "partners" listed on the Ultimate Ride website. It had no record of receiving any money directly from Burfoot's organisation, said executive director Heather Hyland, but was satisfied the jetski riders had raised awareness about the dangers of melanoma.

The riders ran into a series of complications on the water. They landed illegally in Bulgaria and had their jetskis stolen. Police helped recover them the following day.

After arguments broke out between team members, one of the four riders - Aucklander Jed Martin - said he was sent home from Istanbul, Turkey.

Then, when the team finally made it out into the Aegean Sea, between Greece and Turkey, the bilge pumps in the three remaining jetskis failed in the waves and the craft began sinking. After three hours floating, the adventurers were rescued by the Greek Air Force. The jetskis - lent to them by manufacturer Seadoo - had to be abandoned.

Burfoot said his wife had received emails from another team member accusing him of cheating on her while in Europe.

That was completely untrue, he said, but it was typical of how the team camaraderie had disintegrated.