Eye on the ball: Going for the record
Continuing our adventures with Shelter Island’s thrill-seeking buddies, Toby Green and Tom Cronin — two middle-aged family men who still have much exploration left in their lives — here’s the news.
Last September 11, these two guys decided to get on their jet skis and leave the Island. They went around the Statue of Liberty and stopped at the World Trade Center and returned to the Island.
It left them with a thirst for even more. The duo looked up the Guinness World Records for open ocean, unassisted jet ski travel and found the record is 1,900 miles. They notified Guinness, registered that they were going for a new record, and were approved, and planned to shatter it.
Their trip would more than double the current record. The blueprint is to leave Shelter Island and follow the ocean route down the East Coast to Key West, Florida and back home. They would be in the ocean 15 to 20 miles offshore.
The journey would cover over 4,000 miles and enter the names of two boys from Shelter Island in the Guinness records.
They’re organizing the trip with things like where to stop; what to eat; how to dress; getting time off the machines; and how much gas will be needed. One take-away when you talk to them is that nothing will stop them — they are in “go mode.”
One of the first ideas was finding a good cause and making the trip a fundraiser to help someone. That didn’t take long, since Tom’s great-niece, 8-year-old Julia Ceresnak, has a disease called scleroderma. It’s also known as systemic sclerosis, part of a family of diseases affecting connective tissue. To help out, please check out the following site: scleroderma.org/goto/JetskiforJulia.
Next problem, money. They were lucky, receiving a couple of generous donations early on, but truly fortunate for the sponsorship of Sea Tow and the South Ferry Company. Sea Tow also equipped them with EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon). This device sends out a signal in case they have trouble.
The launch happens on Sunday morning, June 30, at 10 a.m. at Wades Beach. When you arrive, you’ll see two, 2019 Yamaha FX Cruiser SVHO Jet Skis ready to go, featuring GPS, headlights, second bilge pump, second battery, USB charging parts, Blue Tooth music and a secondary 60-gallon fuel tank.
Julia Ceresnak and her family, coming in from California, will be at Wades Beach rooting for a successful send-off.
The 10 a.m. start is important, since the master plan has Virginia scheduled as the first stop that evening. They will be stopping to sleep in tents on the beach for about six hours. The plans also have 14 fuel stops penciled in.
On that first stop they can enjoy their first yummy, dehydrated meal. All they have to do is add water and bingo, they’re at The Palm. If the weather is good, they hope to make it to a beach in Jacksonville on the second night to enjoy six more hours of sleep and another tasty dehydrated meal.
The following day, if things go right, they’re hoping to make it to Key West (1,600 miles). They plan on staying two days and head home with a brief stop in Miami to meet up with a jet ski group before heading for the Bahama Islands.
The guys hope to spend a few days riding around and enjoying these stunning islands before heading back to New York. They’re both looking forward to spending time in Turks and Caicos as a final stop before the trek home.
That total journey should be two weeks for two guys who are getting one more thing off their bucket lists. Good luck guys, and rest assured that we’ll be following you on our computers while eating what we call real food.
See you at Wades Beach Sunday, June 30. And check out these sites: gofundme.com/guinness-book-attempt, facebook.com/jetski2019, //usO-share.inreach.garmin.com/GOTHEDISTANCEFORJULIA.
