Australian Kayakers James Castrission, 25 and Justin Jones, 24, have successfully completed their transtasman kayaking odyssey on January 13.
- They completed this adventure in their Lot 41 craft in 62 days against their estimated 42 days at sea. The adventure commenced on November 13, 2007.
- Though the distance across the Tasman sea is 2200 km, they paddled an extra 1000 km because of adverse weather conditions.
- They are the first kayakers to successfully kayak across the Tasman Sea.
- They commenced their adventure from Forster in New South Wales of Australia and completed at New Plymouth in New Zealand.
- More than 100 boats and kayaks joined them on the last few kilometres of their journey through the New Plymouth breakwater, and the cheers of thousands of well-wishers greeted them as they landed at Ngamotu Beach.
- They were forced to ration their once-daily, 6000-calorie dehydrated meals due to their additional 20 days unplanned stay at sea.
- As the desalination pump failed halfway through the journey, they had to manually desalinate the 10 litres of drinking water they needed daily. This was a tough task that took several hours.
- On completion of their adventure, they were both declared physically fit after a medical examination.
- The pair in the past had already kayaked the 2600km length of Australia’s Murray River.
Here is the map showing Tasman Sea
Image Source:vacationstogo
Starting point, Forster in New South Wales of Australia
Finishing point, New Plymouth in New Zealand
Some photographs of the Kayakers:
Image Source:stuff
Here is a video clip of the Kayakers
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Its great to see that the world is still full of adventurers who are prepared to push the limits. I know some people will say that they were taking unnecessary risks and could have involved an expensive S&R operation if something had gone wrong. But where would we be without people like these two young men. Its not the voyage that is the risk, it is the failure to plan it properly. These two put in a year of planning to be certain. We need more like them.