Tasmanie - Nieuwzeeland

[Freek]

Deze man maakt momenteel de(solo)-overtocht van Tasmanie naar Nieuwzeeland (1600 km)
Hij heeft nu nog 500 km te gaan.

http://www.andrewmcauley.com/index.html

[Freek]

Het wordt nog druk daar;

Deze jongens gaan de 2200 km oversteek maken van Australie naar NieuwZeeland.

http://www.crossingtheditch.com.au/

[waverider]

[Freek]

[Freek]

Met nog een klein stukje voor de boeg, wordt hij vermist, en een zoekaktie is gestart;

NZ authorities spot upturned sea kayak
By Peter Lewis

Emergency services in New Zealand have found an upturned sea kayak off the coast of the South Island.

It is in the vicinity where they have been searching for Australian adventurer Andrew McAuley, who was on the final stages of a trans-Tasman crossing.

An extensive air and sea search for Mr McAuley and his seven-metre sea kayak off the coast of Fiordland was triggered by a radio distress call received by New Zealand's rescue coordination centre.

His family and support team however remained hopeful throughout the day that someone else had sent the message and that it may have even been a hoax.

But tonight the crew of an Air Force Orion scouring the Tasman Sea spotted an upturned kayak matching Mr McAuley's, about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Milford Sound.

A helicopter has been sent to the area, but the sea swells are making the search difficult.

Authorities have directed the chopper to land on board a cruise ship which has changed course to help in the search.

An inflatable dinghy will be launched from the cruise ship to find the missing sea kayak.

Mr McAuley set out from Tasmania a month ago in an attempt to be the first person to cross the Tasman in a sea kayak.

[Freek]

Het ziet er niet goed uit;

An upturned kayak found in rough seas off New Zealand's South Island belongs to missing paddler Australian Andrew McAuley, authorities have confirmed.

There is no sign of Mr McAuley and darkness has forced rescue efforts to be suspended until Sunday morning.

New Zealand National Rescue Coordination Centre (NRCC) spokesman Keith Allen said items aboard the kayak had proven to belong to Mr McAuley.

Mr Allen said it remained a mystery why experienced paddler Mr McAuley had become separated from his kayak, which showed no signs of damage.

"We don't know why he's out of his kayak. It's intact apart from one compartment, which is missing its lid and flooded," he said.

A New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion aircraft discovered the upturned kayak late on Saturday afternoon, around 80km west of Milford Sound.

A rescue crew reached the upturned kayak by inflatable dinghy launched from a cruise ship after fading light and choppy seas prevented them from winching down to the site from a helicopter.

NRCC spokeswoman Annie Lattey said the search for Mr McAuley had been called off for the night as it was too dark to continue.

The search by fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter would not resume for the missing paddler until 9am (local time) on Sunday.

"The reason for that is the lighting difficulties when you are searching over a vast body of water. The light isn't usually suitable (in that area) until nine o'clock in the morning," Ms Lattey said.

The trans-Tasman voyager had been expected to arrive in Milford Sound on Sunday after leaving Fortescue Bay, Tasmania, on January 11.

Concerns about his safety emerged when a garbled message was monitored in New Zealand on the maritime distress channel 16.

Mr McAuley had coped with bad weather, numerous capsizes and sharks during his 1,600km expedition.

He was paddling a sea kayak fitted with a cockpit cover, offering some protection from the elements, and a solar panel to power instruments and communications equipment.

The entire journey has been undertaken below the 40th parallel, an area that regularly produces some of the world's worst weather.

Australia's search and rescue service, AusSAR, has no involvement in the search.

[Freek]

Hopes fade for missing kayaker
Email Print Normal font Large font Andrew McAuley, pictured training for his bid to cross the Tasman Sea in a kayak unassisted.
Photo: Nick Moir
February 11, 2007 - 4:20PM

Hopes of finding missing trans-Tasman kayaker Andrew McAuley alive are fading with the news that he was not equipped with a full-body immersion suit.

McAuley got into trouble trying to become the first person to kayak across the Tasman and his empty craft was spotted last night drifting 75km west of Milford Sound on New Zealand's South Island.

Rescuers began looking for the 39-year-old Australian after what was believed to have been a garbled distress call from the kayak about 5pm (AEDT) on Friday.

Authorities had been hopeful the adventurer could survive for at least a few days in the conditions, because they believed he was probably wearing his lifejacket and an immersion suit.

But Annie Lattey from the Rescue Coordination Centre of NZ said it was learned today that McAuley had not taken a full-body immersion suit with him.

"Andrew was not in fact wearing a full body immersion suit. We found that out this afternoon," she said.

It was now thought he may have only had a dry kayaking jacket on board and his life jacket, she said.

Lattey said rescuers would continue searching tonight until it became too dark, expected to be about 5.30pm (AEDT).

"It obviously does have an impact on things. Survival suits give about 10-11 hours extra. He has been in the water now for about 48 hours," she said.

Earlier today documentary maker and spokeswoman for the McAuley family Jen Peedom said Vicki McAuley - Andrew's wife - was distraught after learning last night that her husband's empty kayak had been found.

"I would say that Vicki is in shock," Peedom said.

Vicki is staying in Te Anau, near Milford Sound, with her three-year-old son Finlay, Andrew's father Peter and his sister Juliette.

But Ben Deacon, a friend of Andrew and part of the team making a documentary about his journey, said he was certain Andrew was carrying an immersion suit.

"There has been a bit of confusion on their (rescuers) part. They have got that information from Vicki who is very upset at the moment," he said.

"Vicki wasn't really in a position to give chapter and verse of Andrew's equipment," he said.

Deacon said he had not been able to find a document that detailed the equipment Andrew McAuley had taken with him, but he was in no doubt his friend would have carried it on board.

"The dry suit was his pride and joy. It cost him a fortune," Deacon said.

[Gast]

Vicki McAuley, wife of missing kayaker Andrew, with his recovered kayak yesterday.
Photo: Christchurch Press


He's still alive, says kayaker's family
Milford Sound
February 12, 2007

FRIENDS and family of Australian kayaker Andrew McAuley remained confident last night that he would be rescued, despite having no sign of him since Friday.

Mr McAuley, 39, was last heard from late on Friday, when he relayed a plea for help while only 80 kilometres from Milford Sound after a month-long solo kayak from Tasmania.

His kayak was recovered on Saturday but an aerial search failed to find any trace of him.

"What Andrew has achieved so far is simply remarkable and if anyone is going to survive a couple of nights out in the ocean, we truly believe he can," close friend and filmmaker Ben Deacon said.

"People have said he can't do things before but he has always proved them wrong."

Mr Deacon said Mr McAuley had a dry suit on board. However, searchers remain uncertain that he did have a suit, which would have greatly increased his chances of survival.

Kayak designer Paul Hewitson said that the kayak was complete except for the safety bubble that sat on the back of it.

"Something big has ripped the bubble off and probably capsized him," he said.

Mr McAuley had been due to arrive at Milford Sound yesterday after his journey across the Tasman Sea, which began in Tasmania on January 11.

His wife Vicki and their three-year-old son Finlay were waiting for him to arrive at Milford. Mrs McAuley last spoke to her husband on Thursday night.

Rescue Co-ordination Centre spokeswoman Annie Lattey said the search was likely to resume today. "We haven't found any sign. He has been in the water for 48 hours," she said.

[Freek]

tv verslag;
http://tvnz.co.nz/cda/tvnz/video_popup_ ... width=128k

en nog een;

http://www.tv3.co.nz/default.aspx?tabid ... dlist21020

[waverider]

Er is een fonds opgericht voor zijn vrouw en zoontje;

http://www.nswseakayaker.asn.au/

[bigboybigboat]

[Freek]

Nog wat feiten;

Some info about Andrew McAuley's kayak when it was inspected by the builder, after it was brought ashore in New Zealand.
First of all, the kayak was in excellent shape, apart from Casper the cockpit cover missing - and there is a suggestion that this could have actually broken away in the 24 hours after Andrew was separated from the kayak. It would have been full of water and being washed about in the swells, and could have easily broken away.

The pump batteries (two of them, with separate switches) were fully charged, and the pump worked when tested. The satellite phone still worked, although the battery was getting low. The socket in the kayak that was used for charging was corroded, it was inside the rear compartment, and had been under water for 24 hours.. The three GPS's were still working. The EPIRB was still in the kayak and was tested OK. The paddle was still attached to the kayak. There was food in the cockpit.

Paul has viewed some of the video (the NZ police still have some of the waterlogged video). The video plainly shows him wearing his dry suit in the kayak. I know from talking to him at Fortecscue Bay that his intention was to always put this on if his weather forecaster in Sydney warned him of a big blow coming. This would mean that if anything happened and he ended up out of the kayak he would be prepared for it. So some of the video shows him wearing it. A very sensible precaution.

In the video he also mentions that he had capsized twice, and had to climb back into the kayak. This was quite difficult ('gnarly' to use his own words) and he was very concerned that he not capsize again. A normal kayak can be re-entered over the back deck, but Casper would stop this method. And the front deck had gear on it as well, including a mounted video camera. Some of you might wonder why he didn't roll up. For a start, there was no normal seat in the kayak, and it was a very large cockpit. Because he had to slide down into it to sleep, he was sitting on a bean bag that he specially made, and I can remember him saying that this was a vast improvement over the bag he was using on the first aborted trip.This bean bag was also used as a pillow for sleeping. The other reason for not having a normal seat was that the rear compartment was accessed from inside the cockpit, through a hatch in the rear bulkhead. There was no external hatch on this compartment. To get stuff out of here he had to lie down in the kayak, roll over on his stomach, remove the hatch cover. His gear in here had long strings attached to them so they could be pulled out.

What went wrong? This is the best guess made by the people on the spot - but is conjecture, as told to me buy Paul.
He was getting tired (he went through emotional highs and lows - this from the video), but was finally in good weather, and in sight of land (the peaks of the mountains anyway). A small front came through that he possibly didn't bother putting his dry suit on for, maybe because it was a very hot day. He was probably exuberant at being close to land and may have paddled more than he was fit to do, and was extra tired. The cold front capsized him and put him in the water. He could not get back in. He got in under the kayak and unscrewed the rear hatch to get his drysuit out, and the VHF radio. If he was tethered he would have to untether to get into the dry suit. Somehow he got separated from the kayak and it blew away from him faster than he could swim - especially in a dry suit, or half in one.

The rest you know.

I repeat, the above is conjecture from the people on the spot - but a reasonable explanation that would cover all the facts.

Why didn't he go for the EPIRB. I know Andrew thinks the same as I do on this subject. It is a last resort. It is far better (if possible) to make contact by phone or radio and let people know the exact situation - rather than the huge panic and search that an EPIRB generates. Having said that, I'm quite sure that he would have intended to set it off (as I would) once he was in the dry suit. It was the separation from the kayak that brought him undone.

What lessons can be learnt from this tragedy? First of all, it is possible to paddle a kayak from Tasmania to New Zealand. Never forget that. Andrew planned this expedition in meticulous detail, and he was right - it can be done.
Had he had a small strobe light in an inside pocket of his paddling jacket he may well have attracted the attention of the two helicopters that went out searching on the friday night. And in hindsight the EPIRB should always be attached to the person, not the kayak.

Laurie Ford

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Voor degenen die BBC kunnen ontvangen;

BBC2 Sunday 22nd Feb 21:00-22:00 a programme called "Solitary Endeavour on the Southern Ocean"

"Documentary charting the brave attempt of Andrew McAuley to cross the wild Southern Ocean from Australia to New Zealand in a kayak. After a month at sea, and only one day away from success, he sent a distress signal. His empty kayak was found only 30 miles from shore. His body was not recovered, but the tapes from his cameras were. This film examines the mystery surrounding the exact circumstances of Andrew's death."

[bjorri]

Helaas werkt de UK versie van uitzendinggemist (www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/) alleen met een ip-adres in de UK. Maar goed,het komt wel een keer in Nederland op tv ook denk ik.