Paddling News

A year after Andrew McAuley set out from Tasmania on his attempt to make the first kayak crossing of the Tasman, the truth appears to be emerging as to why he died within sight of the New Zealand coast and his body has not been recovered. A YEAR after Andrew McAuley set out from Tasmania on his attempt to make the first kayak crossing of the Tasman, the truth appears to be emerging as to why he died within sight of the New Zealand coast and his body has not been recovered.

As the Sydneysiders James Castrission and Justin Jones approach New Plymouth, McAuley's widow, Vicki, believes a broken pivot arm on the canopy of his kayak betrayed him about 70 kilometres short of the New Zealand coast.

According to evidence heard at the New Zealand coroner's inquest a month ago, it was that damage, sustained during a violent mid-Tasman storm in the last days of January, that led McAuley to be separated from the vessel and drown.

Today, a year and a day after McAuley set out from Fortescue Bay in Tasmania, his widow looks proudly back on her husband's life of adventure, his extraordinary achievements, and the inspiration he gave others. That includes a rowing team that finished a trans-Tasman crossing less than two weeks ago, and the Castrission-Jones quest, expected to make landfall on Monday.

Ms McAuley, the mother of Finlay, 4, was a witness at the day-long inquest into her husband's death, held in Invercargill before Trevor Savage. Another witness was the builder of her husband's kayak, Paul Hewitson. Mr Savage is expected to deliver his findings next week.

McAuley had been in high spirits, had long prepared for the trip and had a purpose-built boat. Part of the kayak was a fibreglass canopy that folded onto the rear of the craft while he was paddling, but which could be pulled up and clamped over the cockpit when he wanted to sleep, or during a storm.

Watertight when operating normally, the fully deployed canopy formed a shell that righted the kayak when it capsized.

But the two-day storm - "of Sydney-to-Hobart proportions", Ms McAuley said - broke the pivot arm. The kayaker radioed on February 1 that he had suffered the damage.

"He kept going," Ms McAuley said. "The canopy could still clamp down over the cockpit. But then he got into very rough seas.

"On the 9th of February the kayak overturned and he got out of the kayak to turn it upright. The canopy was folded at the rear of the kayak but because the pivot arm was broken and swinging free, there was a gap and water was getting in.

"The canopy could hold 100 litres of water. The weight of the water in the canopy would not let him turn the kayak upright. He was trying to separate the canopy and set it free. That is when he made his garbled radio call for help. We believe that another sharp wave knocked him and separated him from the boat."

When the kayak was found 24 hours after the distress call, his emergency equipment was still on board. The canopy was missing.

Ms McAuley has no doubt that had he managed to right the kayak her husband would have made it to dry land, even if it meant paddling non-stop through the night. As it is, she maintains that he completed the crossing.

In September she and Finlay received on McAuley's behalf a Lifetime of Adventure Award from the Australian Geographic Society. That paid tribute not just to the Tasman crossing but three kayak crossings of the Bass Strait, one of them non-stop, a feat yet to be repeated, a trip down the Antarctic Peninsula, a crossing of the Gulf of Carpentaria and a mountaineering feat in Pakistan.

His legacy, she said, was to inspire others to get out and confront challenges and push themselves.

Article Source: The Sydney Morning Herald