[Closed] kayak to New Zealand

bet his son wanted a dad who failed before he tried rather than a memory

I got the impression he wanted out

poor lad and his wife

He was also fairly certain that he was going to see as much life is those 1800km of paddling than most people see in their entire lifetime though.

watched it, not sure if i enjoyed it, was a bit harsh at times, but it was good, i also felt that he knew he wasn't going to do it, but to get so close though,

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hy0wb/Solitary_Endeavour_on_the_Southern_Ocean/ ]for anyone who missed it[/url]

i do recommend watching it though

Selfish f***er - it's a hard watching the son running around whilst his Dad effectively commits suicide.

yep he saw alot of life in 1800km

say after me

"water water everywhere"

your point is

"An extreme Adventure" he called it at one point. I'm not certain that was a good enough reason to leave a widow and a fatherless son.

At the other end of this being here when it happened and also a SAR person....
Not entirely sure what happened to him really other than he capsized and his pod fell off or something of that ilk. His emergency call seemed to, in hindsight, suggest that he was no longer with his boat but at the time a search was launched only on a vague suspicion that he might have had a problem. Thems the vagaries of paddling across the Tasman really, he was ****ing close though and i think slightly unlucky but i have some serious questions over the preparation and also the safety gear he had. I also peronsally think he was a can short of a six pack but everyone is driven in different ways. I;d rather my kids saw their old man being adventurous - but alive.

I caught half of the program – from where he actually set off – although not a sea canoeist I have over 30 years of white water experiences – thought the pod thing was a very impractical idea as I took away his ability to roll the boat – (although he may have had better leverage with a broader paddle and using a Pawlata roll) – the French guy who was providing the weather info I felt knew from the start what would happen

As a dad i simply cant understand his actions. He knew there was more than a 50% chance he would die. He still went. I count my blessings every time i get to the bottom of the Matador at Inners but i know in my mind its HIGHLY unlikely i would die. Few broken bones maybe but to put yourself in that position with a wife and child who need you? Leave the "pushing the envelope of adventure" to the singles with no families to worry about. And for his mate to try and justify it at the end by comparing him to explorers of the past, what was he discovering? I know the old adage about "because its there" rings true but come on, that was suicide.

I also cannot work out why they could not come up with a solution that meant the pod worked by day as well - so that it attached down to a false cockpit behind him, and was still airtight.

he nearly made it too. 1800km and goes down 50k from shore.

That pod thing did look like a very inelegant and poorly thought out solution – although to be fair I can’t think of any thing better – I’m not sure I’d have used an adapted stock kayak – I think I would have started from scratch

He didn't have enough technology with him. I would have at least of had a transmitting GPS tracker. Survival beacon and others. He got real close though poor sod.......

I saw it and thought it was horrific. His sobbing when he left his wife and kid on his first attempt showed how torn he obviously was.

But the thought of being prone, in that coffin in 20m swells... Christ, that's the stuff of nightmares.

I strongly suspect he was completely addled by hypothermia and made his distress call before leaving his kayak. He said "I'm going down", but he should have know that it was impossible for that kayak - or him, if wearing his dry suit and buoyancy aid - to actually sink. I doubt he had the faintest clue where he was or what he was doing.

Very sad. Very foolish.

I watched it too .... totally mad, it certainly looked to me as though he thought he would die.
Almost as though it was the ultimate way of topping himself.

Hope I am wrong about the above, as ever though bad news for those left behind.

whilst I'll admit it does seem selfish of him, there is a certain type of person that needs this kind of challenge to feel alive. plenty of people take huge risks in mountaineering, not necessarily through foolhardiness, but purely through the statistical chances of death. He does seem to push this to an extreme though.

I would agree about the hypothermia – from the tape of his distress call his speech appeared to be slurred & incoherent – used a call sign that non of his family team understood rather then his name – no position etc – makes me wonder If he decide to swim for it

his speech appeared to be slurred & incoherent

he is Australian