[Closed] ...this is kayak one. do you copy, over?

Thanks for this. I know the story (spent time in Oz and read Australian Geographic who were heavily involved with him) but never seen this. My adventure mate says it's the most harrowing film he's seen so I will watch with caution.

For others who are interested see http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hy0wb/Solitary_Endeavour_on_the_Southern_Ocean/

It is an absolutely fascinating film - how? why? and dry up the tears... I still can't get my head round it.

Amazing film saw it at HVAFF - really mesmeric even when you know the ending.

Saw it last night, haunting to say the least.

Agree with all the above, definitely worth seeing though

This should be interesting, it's the Coastguard broadcasting to 'all stations' that's got my hairs on end already (I've be on the end of such calls before, you know something bad is going down right away)

Brief synopsis?

The haunting story of Andrew Mcauley and his solo attempt of kayaking accross the Southern Ocean from Aus to NZ

And does not make it, leaving behind wife and young son.

5 mins into the journey:

"I'm scared I'll never see my family again. My son needs a father, my wife needs a husband. I'm wondering why I'm doing this and I don't have an answer"

Turn around and go back ffs!

Ta.

5 mins into the journey:

"I'm scared I'll never see my family again. My son needs a father, my wife needs a husband. I'm wondering why I'm doing this and I don't have an answer"

Turn around and go back ffs!

Those that don't turn back often achieve great feats and gain a lot from it personally. Some don't and don't make it back alive. I'm glad we live in a world where people do such things from time to time.

a very selfish pursuit in the name of pointless recognition no?

Those that don't turn back often achieve great feats and gain a lot from it personally

Greater than having a loving family and friends? Your young son having a father? etc

I understand adventure but when you have a young family it can be selfish and unnecessary, as in this case.

I'm glad we live in a world where people do such things from time to time.

I'm glad none of them are related to me, or anyone I care about.

MrNutt - Member
a very selfish pursuit in the name of pointless recognition no?

organdonor - Member
Greater than having a loving family and friends? Your young son having a father? etc

I understand adventure but when you have a young family it can be selfish and unnecessary, as in this case.

Sorry guys, but if that is how you feel then there's probably no point in even trying to understand the mentality

TBF it seems clear it was incredibly risky and he blinded himself to that before the trip.

Sorry guys, but if that is how you feel then there's probably no point in even trying to understand the mentality

What a bizarre comment - just cos others don't get 'it' doesn't mean that their opinions aren't valid.

Back on point. Do we know if the radio message played has been cleaned up? It certainly didn't come across as too garbled to me, situation and location given. Admittedly a poor mayday but still gave enough info to act on

What a bizarre comment - just cos others don't get 'it' doesn't mean that their opinions aren't valid.

Didn't even suggest that opinions weren't valid, just that they weren't ever likely to understand such a mentality

[i]Sorry guys, but if that is how you feel then there's probably no point in even trying to understand the mentality[/i]

The mentality that sees an adventure as more important than being a husband and a father? 'Ave a word.

Looks like a massive amount of running away from real life to me.

Didn't even suggest that opinions weren't valid, just that they weren't ever likely to understand such a mentality

Maybe we just understand it in a different way.

That's just it though, I do (kind of) understand the thrill seeker/ explorer mentality.

What I don't understand is how these people try to mix their 'stare death in the face' exploits, with providing the security that a family needs and deserves.

That's what I find selfish.

Imagine living a life where the only time you can feel like your living a life worth living is when you're on the edge of death. That's what that type of person has to deal with.

Crikey, well yes, obviously. Out of interest, whatcha think of astronauts and the like?

geoffj, understanding doesn't usually have the word "selfish"

[i]Out of interest, whatcha think of astronauts and the like?[/i]

What, you mean those guys who had the backing of the best scientists that the USA and the USSR could provide? The same chaps and chapesses who knew that a significant amount of national pride depended on them going and coming back safely?

I think they were brave, and bold, but I also think they knew that the chances of success were high.

Occasionally mix with some of the mountaineer fraternity that live round here, some are real thousand yard stare merchants, who also seem to have no understanding of the possible consequences for their families of their obsessions.

I am fortunate enough to be friends with one of the worlds best climbers. He does routes that are amongst the most difficult in the world, if not the most difficult.

What he gets out of it is the feeling of control in achieving an ascent and all of the process that leads upto it. Other than that he is normal.

scuttler cheers for the link, just watched it.

Astonishing.

What, you mean those guys who had the backing of the best scientists that the USA and the USSR could provide? The same chaps and chapesses who knew that a significant amount of national pride depended on them going and coming back safely?

I think they were brave, and bold, but I also think they knew that the chances of success were high.

Fair enough, except for the scientist point - it's not like kayaks were invented yesterday.

Btw, have you watched the documentary in question?

legend - Member

Fair enough, except for the scientist point - it's not like kayaks were invented yesterday.

His bubble/canopy thing looked like it was.

day before yesterday I'll have you know!

jesus, heartbreaking. Never seen that before.

Imagine living a life where the only time you can feel like your living a life worth living is when you're on the edge of death. That's what that type of person has to deal with.

I'd say this sums it up the best. he had to do it, he couldn't have turned round and said forget it, even though he probably wanted to...

What, you mean those guys who had the backing of the best scientists that the USA and the USSR could provide?

Yeah, those guys

[img] [/img]

[i]he couldn't have turned round and said forget it,[/i]

Yes, actually, he could.

People with Motor Neurone disease can't turn round and say forget it, I don't want this disease.
People with Breast cancer can't turn round and say forget it I don't want this disease.
People born into poverty, people born to alcoholic parents, people born with physical and mental problems, they can't say forget it.

I can fill the page with the stuff that people can't actually forget.

I can also assume with a fairly high degree of accuracy that the people who really, really wish he had said forget it are the ones sitting at home with his pictures.

Doing stupid stuff does not make you a hero.

His ego got in the way of his rationality IMHO and those around him should have done more.
FFS the kayak had a fibre glass bubble that filled with water and made it almost impossible to get the kayak back upright whenever it capsized,which it did frequently.Fundamental design flaw which he was well aware of which ended up costing him his life.
Strangely someone tipped off the local coastguard saying that the kayak was unsafe and questioning his state of mind and he put it down to jealous competitors(could have been his friends?).Tragically they were right.

Back on point. Do we know if the radio message played has been cleaned up? It certainly didn't come across as too garbled to me, situation and location given. Admittedly a poor mayday but still gave enough info to act on

It may have been cleaned up, I don't know. However, try listening to the audio without looking at the words on the screen, and preferably without having heard the words before. It is almost completely indecipherable on the first listen, apart from a few words which can be made out.

His website is still there. In the present tense. 🙁

Jesus that's a stunning film. That footage near the end after the violent storm, in the calm water with the sea bird floating near his kayak put tears in my eyes.

I was surprised he didn't have his emergency beacon attached to him in some way. From the sound of it it wouldn't have helped much unless they'd got to him in 20-30 mins but even so, seems a startling omission as it's no good to him in the boat if he gets out to right it and the boat gets away from him.

Truly sad documentary though. I need to find one a little cheerier after watching this and Grand Prix - The Killer Years yesterday (the last scene of the British driver burning to death at Zandvoort was just horrifying).

Sad program. I used to do more crazy stuff but reined it in when I had children. It seems the high risk high reward life of adventurers is more of a curse. I see where he was coming from though.

Tragic for his family. Chuffing stupid thing to do with or without a young family imho. As a fatherof two young kids the thought of taking on.something that would stand a better than 20% chance of killing me is unthinkable.

Not read any of the posts bar the first couple so as not to spoil it, went straight to I player to find it, put it on!! What a start 😯

seen a while back, he was so close too. shame he never made it, kayaker myself and he was some guy taking that on, think id be researching whole lot better than it looked like he did, can see his drive and really thought he must have known his limitations, but suppose undertaking that adventure was his real test, can see the attraction but too risky for me that one..........

I've tried to watch it twice and never managed to get more than 2 minutes in.

I've done the Sydney Hobart yacht race across the Bass Stait, it was One of the most frightening races I've ever done and I was on a boat with 14 other guys, 9 proffesionals who'd done it before and one of them called it "lumpy"

Never again, but glad I did it.

Can not imagine paddling further than 3 miles offshore me.

Man was both bonkers and brave and a little bit selfish. He left a loving home and masses of friends, had to imagine leaving that behind.

Man was both bonkers and brave and a little bit selfish

I suspect that description applies to just about any extreme adventurer that pushes against the limits.

Scott / Shackleton? Edmund Hillary? Donald Campbell? Jeb Corliss?

Man dies doing something risky shocker

^Ignore.. Just ignore^

I watched it last night with the OH. Upset us both. He was agonisingly close.

I can not imagine what was going through his head during that storm. It must have been terrifying.

Still sad thinking about it now.

I dont mind people taking risks, its their life and their family, but the design of the cockpit canopy did seem to be very poor.

That struck me as both stupid and likey to add to his risk.

I can't help but think of the parallels between this and Scott and Amundsen. Like Scott he suddenly found he was in a race that he wasn't expecting and like Scott that may well have pushed him to cut corners in his preparation. If that canopy had been designed to lock down and be water tight in it's stowage position he would almost certainly have made it just as Scott would have done had he pushed one ton camp further south as Oates had wanted.

Got as far as him paddling away from the beach when my boy (about the same age as his) came in.

I think when your have children, your responsibility to them should outweighs everything else.

Just watched.

Sat on the floor in tears at the end 🙁

Going to go and give my boys a hug.

Wow. Thanks to the op - an amazing film of an amazing, if slightly insane man! Fascinating and heart wrenching.

Shame about all the self righteous, judgemental crap on here but you get used to that after a while.

Just finished watching after switching off last night after a few minutes. The video on his first paddle away from shore was truly heartbreaking to watch! He seemed to know his fate was sealed there and then. So close.......

Just watched it. Tragic, very honest and very thought provoking, but I do side with the comments of selfishness, especially when he paddles off at the start. As much as people like thrill seeking, it was pretty clear his gut instinct was strongly telling him not to do it ... more than just a niggling doubt.

As for the distress call, close your eyes and try and make out the words without having the text in front to read from. much harder to make out. You can hear the slurr in the speech too from the cold.

good film, thanks for that.. in fairness to the guy though, he did more or less make it. what I don't get with the bubble thing though, is surely it must have been detachable in the event of capsizing?

[RE: Astronauts] I think they were brave, and bold, but I also think they knew that the chances of success were high.

Manned space flight (all space program's in history) have a 98% survival rate. So yes, the chances are pretty good and it's actually not as risky as it might seem.

What I don't understand is how these people try to mix their 'stare death in the face' exploits, with providing the security that a family needs and deserves.

I don't kayak anywhere, but I do do stuff that could be considered quite risky, and I have a family. I battle with this all the time - when I go out, leaving partner and daughter sleeping in bed, I do quite often have thoughts of "what the hell am I doing?"

Having a family does change things - I used to think academically about what would happen if I died, but now it's much more emotional - for instance when taking [url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/cycleologist/7006225806/in/set-72157623445887175 ]this picture[/url] on top of a crane with no safety barrier, previously I'd have been very careful and cautious, but this time I just kept thinking about what would happen to my daughter if I died.

But I still do stuff like that. Why? I really can't explain it even to myself. I try to rationalise it by saying that it's not really all that risky, and I have the experience and skills to deal with the situation, but that's not really enough.

I guess what I'm saying is that you can't really understand it.

Its still not the same Ben, what he did he knew was more likely to end in his death than in survival, Would you take that photo if the odds of survival were only 40% or 30%.

And he doesn't bear comparison to the astronauts either he didn't do it to advance mankind's knowledge of the world, of science or of space, he wasn't opening up new worlds of possibility to move the human race forward. Neither does he compare to the great explorers, that would be like Scott hopping to the pole in the tracks of a skidoo, anyone can get from Australia to Tasmania, all you need is a credit card.

It wasn't an adventure, it wasn't exploration it was an act of sheer stupidity.

people born with....mental problems, they can't say forget it.

Just because a person isn't dribbling and bagning their head on a wall doesn't mean they don't suffer mental health poblems. 😉

Really enjoyed that. Thanks for the heads up .

Tbh I don't get the emotional reaction fro m people other than I get the feeling some people on here would like to think they are this type of person and think by being emotional about it somehow makes them more like him.

Broken down into black and white

He was a selfish individual
He got in out of his depth
He and his family paid the price

There are much sadder tales to tell than this. It's the equivalent of me saying to my wife that I think I could survive jumping out of a plane without a parachute. I MAY survive and have a story to tell/sell . I may die but hell lets give it a go cos I will get a buzz. My own sense of preservation and the swift kick in the nuts my wife would give me would soon put paid to the idea.

Really good watch but not in the least bit sad tbh

I don't get the reaction either, he was 50 miles away from what a 1500mile journey... I think he clearly proved that while it was dangerous, it's not impossible.

Thanks to the OP as watched this last night. Struck by what seemed an amazingly dangerous trip to undertake in what was clearly a modded kayak with serious potential flaws. I'm not a thrill seeker in any extreme way so understand I don't 'get it', especially as the propsect of one night in that wet straightjacket type cabin on dry land would be horrible for me! Agree also with the selfishishnes re his little boy, maybe less so re his wife as seemed he was so when she met him. I don't get the comparison to the great explorers though as not sure what we as a race learnt from what he achieved. Shame he's no longer about testing himself a little less extremely.

i watched this a good while ago with the GF. we both sat there shouting expletives at the screen, each one wit a nod to how stupid and selfish the guy was.

his family paid the price, he didn't. he deserved it.

but not in the least bit sad

Is it not sad that a child is left without a father? Or that a bloke who so obviously loved his son still felt driven to do something so patently dangerous? The things I found most sad were his wife's comments at the end of the film, that she believed he'd achieved what he set out to. Her pride in him, and love for him, were humbling.

I'd neither condone or condemn his actions. People, including those with kids, do daft stuff every day of the week which could feasibly leave them unable to fully care for their family. Maybe not with the same odds of failure as McAuley, but still with significant risk. I know a lad whose dad drank himself to death at 37 who will probably never understand why. At least McAuley's son might be able to extract some, however limited, sense of why his father did what he did.

He deserved to die? What a ridiculous statement!

Just had a little me time to watch this. Great stuff, so near and yet so far.

Been thinking about it some more now.
What it comes down is we (the human race) need people like this to push the boundaries, those that thrive on risk help overall development.

Lets face we all ride bikes, off-road, in dangerous situations. We all enjoy being on the edge of control and no doubt we've all got tales of when we've crossed that threshold.

But, IMO there's a time for doing this, and its when you're young and single and when the cost of a mistake affects fewer people.

Zimbo. A dad setting off for work, kissing his son goodbye and not returning because he was involved in a car crash is sad. A father deciding to undertake something so blatantly obviously staked against himself is stupid.

I don't get the comparison to the great explorers though as not sure what we as a race learnt from what he achieved.

Well worth a watch but you can't help think .... why ?!!??!

Very sad.

My wife's in the "why do dangerous things that could kill you?" camp.

I'm in the other camp, much like the STW favourite Jeremy Clarkson once described it whilst interviewing that sobbing round-the-world sailor woman : "if it wasn't for people like you we'd all still be living in caves eating leaves"

I suppose he was alluding to the human spirit of adventure, or whatever you want to call it.

Got into the video as far as the point at which he says goodbye to his son. The thought of never seeing my lad again flashed into my mind, making me feel rather nauseated.

Still, I quite fancy giving the trans-Alantic rowing race a go (certainly not as dodgy as solo-ing the Southern Ocean).

What did we learn from the race up everest or the race to the poles, not a great deal..

You are clearly ignorant as to the scientific research undertaken by Scott's final expedition. Half the men on that trip were scientists and the data they collected is still used today. The pole was an objective but only one of many.

As has been suggested above. He probably would have lived if he had been able to do one of two things.

1. Design that bubble thing to have a watertight seal when in open position. That would have meant that he could have roll back up without leaving the boat.

2. Be able to easily jetison the bubble thing in the event of it flooding and he cannot empty it, therefore be able to upright the boat.

despite everything, it looks like he could have lived if a bit more effort had gone into his equipment. To undertake a venture like that with poor prep was madness.

The start of the film would suggest that he hadn't prepared well. His first effort was binned because he was cold. Had not not actually been out to sea to test his equipment?

I'm not wishing to seem crude, but I'm watching this just now and wondering, for a 30 day kayak trip, what does one do for ablutions?

I think when your have children, your responsibility to them should outweigh everything else.

True on so many levels.

The first, aborted launch was telling for me. He sobbed, saying he didn't think he'd see his family again. He seemed like a man who'd committed himself to an idea and was going to carry it through even though he seemed fairly unsure of success. It seemed more like some sort of compulsion than an adventure.

[quote=thegreatape ]I'm not wishing to seem crude, but I'm watching this just now and wondering, for a 30 day kayak trip, what does one do for ablutions?

I had the same thought. My only guess was some sort of bed-pan that he could tip over the edge.

avdave2 - Member
You are clearly ignorant as to the scientific research undertaken by Scott's final expedition. Half the men on that trip were scientists and the data they collected is still used today. The pole was an objective but only one of many.

fairly enough poor example that one. but the point still stands many people do silly things for no great reason it's an indivdual choice. personally I wont condemn those that do. fair do's to them imo.

I agree with assessment that the guy died due to poor equipment, a bit more thought and he'd be alive.