Follow The Crossing on website!

The Malta-Sicily Kayak Challenge, which sets off from Marsalforn tomorrow morning at 3 is expected to be a slow crossing, possibly taking some 16 hours, if not more, but thanks to modern technology one would be able to follow the progress from home through http://kayak.datatrak.it.

There will be a support fleet of 13 boats, each of which will be assigned to a particular role on the Kayak For Cancer Challenge being organised to raise funds in aid of the Malta Cancer Foundation.

In addition there will be seven escort boats, one for each kayak. Given in the sequence of name of boat/skipper's name/kayakers, the escort section is made up of Yasumi/Jovin Rausi/Stephen Brincat-Sandra Fsadni; Gitan/ Joseph Zerafa/Joe Borg; Coley II/Geoffrey Webster/Albert Gambina; Katy Jane/Ivan Grech Mintoff/Nikki Valenzia; Spinner/John Formosa/Dorian Vassall; Tua/Richard Tua/Robert Pullicino; and Gallivanter/Glynis Pace/Mark Bugeja-Gregory Camenzuli.

Lady Morwenna is the stand-by boat skippered by Vince Ratcliffe while Victor Calleja on board Princess Serena will arrive at Pozzallo before the rest of the fleet to organise berthing at the Sicilian end.

The headquarters boat will be Sandy Three skippered by Roland Darmanin Kissaun. Sandy Three will carry a Datatrak location device, which, for the duration of the crossing, will send position data back to the Datatrak servers over GPRS and satellite every five minutes, providing statistics such as distance travelled and time to destination.

The last known position of the fleet will be displayed on an interactive map. This, together with statistics about the progress of the fleet, will automatically update at regular intervals. The website will also have information about the event such as the names of the kayakers, the supporting fleet, sponsors, copies of related press releases and, most importantly, the numbers one can SMS in order to make a donation to such a worthy cause. The numbers are 5061 8090 for a donation of €4.66 (Lm2) and 5061 9226 for donations of €11.65 (Lm5).

The Malta-Sicily Kayak Challenge is also supported by a pool of sponsors namely GasanMamo Insurance Ltd, Farrugia Investments Ltd, Datatrak plc, Go Sicily Properties, Tower Supermarkets Ltd (Sliema), Virtù Ferries Ltd and Errea by Tutto Sports Ltd.