Two years ago Bermudian adventurer Gray Robinson embarked on a unique project to circumnavigate the globe without the use of a combustion engine. He planned to bicycle, kayak, horseback, sail and kite surf his way through 48 countries, six continents, seven deserts, two oceans and a frozen sea. It was anticipated that it would take over four years to traverse and endure the 73,000 miles set before him.

An extreme sports athlete, Mr. Robinson holds a doctorate in traditional Chinese medicine. His innovative global expedition and youth development programme, ‘Synergy n Motion’, had been introduced into local schools, and had taken two and a half years of meticulous planning and research.

Two years ago, during a trip to the Himalayas in India, Mr. Robinson fell ill with colitis, and after returning to Bermuda and then Canada it became nearly fatal.

“There were days when they didn’t think I would make it,” he says. “It was literally touch and go for five months.” Thanks to expert medical care, however, Mr. Robinson did survive, and is once more in excellent health.

“What I find remarkable is what the human body will endure to then flourish again,” he says.

Now, with a clean bill of health, Mr. Robinson has been training to further build his stamina, strength and endurance.

“The support of my family, friends, mentors and donors were of paramount importance to me. Through their belief in the project and me, they gave me the strength and determination I needed to return to optimal health and continue with what I had started,” he says.

Mr. Robinson used his long recovery time to review, refine and replan his great adventure. As a result, the ‘Synergy n Motion’ project has taken on a new dimension and matured into the production of ‘PANGEA — world without borders’, a TV series and feature film documenting the global expedition.

“The PANGEA team are professionals dealing in the promotion, production and creation of concepts,and I am constantly learning from the experience and expertise of all those who have guided me in realising my dream, without whom none of this would be possible.

“Likewise, the Discovery Communications production partners and crew involved are very talented individuals who bring a new scope and vision to this project.”

In addition to the locally-based youth development programme, the expedition will provide a medium to raise public awareness for non-profit organisations (NGO’s), community based charities, and the issues of climate change. With such diversity and cultural exposure, there is the opportunity to interact with a variety of child, refugee, poverty, and emergency response organisations.

The project will spotlight those NGOs which are, in so many ways, unrecognised for their humanitarian efforts due to a lack of exposure and resources.

Clearly, a project of such magnitude and uncharted waters requires not only extensive and detailed logistical planning, but also a great deal of specialised equipment, all of which will require serious financing.

While eight local corporate sponsors and multiple international sponsors are already on board, Mr. Robinson is presently approaching others, as well as private individuals, with a professionally-produced package offering them several levels of participation.

It details projected budgets, pre-production funding, marketing and advertising and more.

‘PANGEA’ is being approached as a two-step odyssey. First will be the development of a pilot production for the first leg of the expedition, wherein Mr. Robinson plans to kite surf from Mile Zero in British Columbia to Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state in the US, with two Canadian Coast Guard boats as support. He will then bicycle to northern California, horseback on the Pacific Crest Trail from Mount Shasta to the Mexican border, and then bicycle to Panama.

Accompanying him will be his production partners, cinematographers and sound technicians, while the executive producer will remain in California. In keeping with the “green” theme of the expedition, the production team will be travelling in a vehicle capable of running on biodiesel fuel, vegetable oil and optional gas.

The estimated time to complete leg one is six months, and while Mr. Robinson hopes that, in the interim, sufficient funds will be secured to enable the project to proceed smoothly to the second leg, for the moment he is focusing on “seed funding” for the high-definition pilot film.

“This is a huge project, and a work in progress, and is therefore being implemented in stages, although we are hoping to do it in unbroken foot steps, all things being equal,” he says. “By captivating sponsors with our vision, we hope they will help us to take the expedition to the next level, and join our team in being part of something special, namely the coordination, implementation and completion of the ‘Synergy n Motion’, ‘PANGEA — world without borders’ project.”

For further information, or anyone wishing to become a sponsor, see www.synergynmotion, or e-mail ">grayatsynergynmotion@gmail.com.