Final self-portrait of doomed kayaker
aka Bob
recovered from the kayak have helped its designer to understand what
happened.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/3973953a10.html
Monday, 26 Feb 2007
Doomed kayaker in sight of land
A haunting self- portrait of Andrew McAuley, taken shortly before the
kayaker disappeared paddling from Australia and New Zealand, has been
revealed.
It shows a vast seascape of emptiness. The green-grey Tasman Sea
heaving, the horizon a cruel circle. Endless.
Then, shortly before he disappeared at sea, McAuley was able to
photograph something else which showed how close he came to reaching
his goal - the high mountains of the South Island.
McAuley's family says that on Friday, February 9, he was within 30
nautical miles or 54km of land.
"I never once doubted he would do it," his wife, Vicki, said
yesterday. And he almost did.
Paddling by day, drifting at night when he slept in a protective
cocoon, McAuley, 39, crossed 1500km of ocean.
McAuley expected to make landfall on February 10, and to achieve a
long-held ambition to become the first man to take a kayak across the
Tasman Sea.
His wife and son were waiting for him in Milford Sound.
At 7.15pm on February 9, however, the Coastguard picked up an almost
indecipherable distress signal from a vessel which identified itself
as Kayak 1.
There were two clear words: "help" and "sinking." Then silence.
The following evening, McAuley's upturned 7m kayak was seen from the
air. The kayak was recovered but McAuley's body has not been found,
and it is believed he drowned in 15deg water when the kayak capsized
while he was asleep.
He did not have an immersion suit, which might have helped him
survive.
Today, his wife and three- year-old son, Finlay, his parents and
brother and sister will celebrate a memorial service at the Macquarie
Lighthouse at Vaucluse, Sydney once a beacon to seafarers on a
clifftop overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
In 2000 and 2005, McAuley won Australian Geographic adventurer awards.
Last year, he paddled 850km to the Antarctic rim. He paddled across
Bass Strait three times and the Gulf of Carpentaria once. He climbed
in the Himalayas, Patagonia, Europe and New Zealand.
"I've had thousands of emails from all over the world expressing the
awe and inspiration Andrew inspired," Vicki McAuley said yesterday.
"I think I want Andrew to continue to be an inspiration."
In Gosford, New South Wales, the kayak's designer, Paul Hewitson, said
video footage and photographs recovered from the kayak had helped him
to understand what happened.
"I've worked out what happened, down to one or two of the finer
points.
"I know from the video, he's saying, 'This is the hardest thing I've
ever done. I've never pushed myself so hard'. He's an adventurer. He
knew how dangerous it was (but) he found it physically very, very,
very hard.
"Everyone is in disbelief that you could get so far and something
could happen. It's the cruellest thing you could ever dream to happen
to a person, in my opinion."
Hewitson would not disclose what he had learned, saying it would be
revealed in a documentary on the fateful voyage.
At their home at Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains, Vicki McAuley said:
"As far as I am concerned, Andrew did achieve his goal.
"I feel very strongly that he should be recognised as having achieved
that goal. He was well in sight of land."
She treasures their eight years of marriage.
"Andrew taught me to be an adventurer. We did such amazing things
together.
"He took me mountaineering in New Zealand and we did a climb and sea-
kayaking in Patagonia. I did trekking in Pakistan while he went
climbing. It has been a wild, high ride."
The attempt on the Tasman had been a long time in the planning, she
said.
"It was a very important trip for both of us.
"I have always had the utmost faith in his ability and his wisdom.
"He has shown wisdom and foresight in doing things that prevented
accidents.
"He was an incredible planner. He planned everything meticulously. I
had every confidence that he would complete this (last) trip. I never
once doubted he could do it."
--
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
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Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
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arf@flipflop.com Apairateef
"aka Bob" <bobf...@surfwriter.net.not> wrote in message
news:eb94u2th2h4s6rp09...@4ax.com...
> One of the last photographs Andrew McAuley took. Video and photographs
> recovered from the kayak have helped its designer to understand what
> happened.
>
> http://www.stuff.co.nz/3973953a10.html
That is very freaking spooky Bob...very spooky
Sarns