Saturday, 2nd July, 2011
WOW! So much is happening right now and I seriously now more than ever need to find Doc Brown and his time machine! Or maybe I need to have a chat with Stephen Hawking to ask him how I can stop time because I need more of it!
So the plan is to have sea trials at the end of July but first I need to equip the boat with all of it’s brand new gear…..which I don’t currently have! So it’s all become a rush against time and money - my wallet seems to have a hole in it which is creating a nice little hurdle for me. But who said trying to row across an ocean was going to be easy, or cheap!? I just have to keep pushing on and like I’ve always said, much to the polar opposite opinion to the critics….money DOESN’T make the world go round. Family, friends, love and having a passion for something in life makes us who we are and therefor make our own worlds revolve. This is my passion, not rowing an ocean, but the ultimate goal of helping others in need. I believe in it and as long as I believe I know I can see this journey through to the end! $1,000,000 for Cystic Fibrosis in Australia and a hell of a lot of awareness along the way!
There is SO much to do in 3 weeks before I am due to have my sea trials and the daunting thought of it not happening then is starting to take it’s toll. I’m not getting much sleep as I have deadlines that I need to meet and people relying on things happening. But not to stress, WE WILL GET THERE!
I have to give a big shout out to Andrew Abrahams (www.adventure4acure.com) who has been a massive support in helping me prepare my boat. I have to admit, I didn’t know the first thing about stripping a boat down and having it ready for sea trials. Andrew – whom I had never met before – decided to fly down to Melbourne to stay with me and my family for 4 days and help strip the entire boat of all its old gear, inculding every single nut, bolt, screw and washer we could possibly find on it, then sand it back ready for some fiber glassing! It wasn’t an easy job and it especially didn’t help the fact that I didn’t even know what a grinder was when we first got stuck into it! I managed to get an extra days work out of Andrew as well due to that infamous Volcanic ash cloud that grounded all flights. But it’s the kindness of strangers like Andrew that make an expedition like this possible! Not only that, but you gain some great friends as well.
Speaking of friends, I’m sad to say that we lost my 25 year old cousin Matt on the 9th of May just after 6pm after his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his friends and family and definitely showed his strength right till the very end. I can’t express how hard it is to not only lose someone that you love so much, but to watch a mother and father lose their child right before your very eyes. No parent should out live their children…… But I have to give it up to my family. They have been amazingly strong throughout this whole ordeal and it I can’t give enough thanks to my best mate Addy for being so much apart of that process, and also to Sarah for being there when it counted the most.
Matty, you’ll always be missed by all that knew you - life must go on x
Matthew Joseph Koczorowski
18.05.85 ~ 09.05.11
