Become the first person to kayak, alone and unaided, around the world’s fourth largest island - Madagascar.
Starting in the eastern port town of Tamatave, Riaan will paddle north in an anti-clockwise direction. He departs in August 2008 and aims to finish the circumnavigation of 5000kms within 10 months, in June 2009.

A letter from Johan Loots, designer of Riaan Manser's Paddleyak kayak

May 2009

"I am thinking that Riaan’s achievement is already ranking against some of the greatest feats of endurance, like reaching the South Pole and sailing alone around the world. If he makes it all the way round Madagascar, it will even challenge the iconic first scaling of Everest by Hillary and should go down in the annals of adventure as one of the greatest of all time.

The reports on his attempt so far has entirely underplayed the enormity of the challenge Manser has set himself. The challenge is on for modern-day endurance kayakers like Manser to become the first to conquer major sea kayak routes, in the same way mountaineers are striving to become the first to scale hitherto unconquered peaks. Some paddlers have already achieved major feats of endurance, such as the circumnavigation of Australia, New-Zealand, Britain and Ireland, but circumnavigating remote Madagascar in a five and a half meter kayak, entirely independent of support and much of it at grade five to seven levels [severe to improbable/impossible], may well rank as the greatest.

It’s time the media pays serious attention to this adventure. It has not had the fanfare of another Holgate safari, nor the adulatory coverage of a balloon trip by Branson, but all the more reason why it’s so incredible. From the very beginning Manser has had to face the hardships of the real, solo adventurer; the preparation, the searching for a suitable craft, the shipping and visa problems and then the cyclones, surf, storms, distances, tropical disease, muggings and even a coup d’etat! Done on a shoestring with hardly a whimper, the achievement is already, quite frankly, nothing short of sensational. It’s time the governments concerned take notice what this humble, fellow citizen of Africa is achieving. Time to shift their focus from party politics to people; real people and real achievements. For most of us, Manser’s achievement is more news-worthy than what has been reflected ad nauseum in our papers recently.

It’s time now that the real heroes are heralded and what can be more deserving than a young man achieving an extreme physical goal such as Manser’s? It will be good for promoting the World Soccer Cup and motivating the rest of us in lean times. It will promote tourism and relations between the countries. Most of all witnessing human drama and achievement of such magnitude will thrill and encourage each one of us in our own lives."

JOHAN LOOTS - Paddleyak - www.tasks.co.za