Kiwi rower completes trans-Tasman double
16 Mar 2010
Thirty-three years after his father became the first person to row across the Tasman Sea, Shaun Quincey has set foot on New Zealand’s 90 mile beach completing a mammoth 54-day row from Australia.
Buffeted by high waves, the 25-year-old swam the final few hundred metres to shore and told his welcoming party that there was "no better country to aim for than New Zealand".
Shaun’s father Colin took 63 days to complete the journey in the reverse direction in 1977. And while he wasn’t present to welcome his son, Shaun’s mother and girlfriend were waiting in the surf with open arms - and some good Kiwi tucker.
Solo voyage
The young Aucklander completed his solo journey at 12.35pm on Sunday (14.03.10) having set off from New South Wales in Australia on 20 January in his 7.3m boat Tasman Trespasser 2.
Quincey, who rowed nearly 4000km in what should have been a 2200km journey, said he doubted many times that he'd make it.
He was down to his last set of oars and battled some big waves to finally make it onto dry land, while his boat tumbled through three-metre surf to land virtually unscathed, about 100m further down the beach.
Earlier it had looked as if Quincey could miss New Zealand altogether, after strong northerly currents threatened to sweep him past the top of the North Island.
For the final four days he had only eaten cold porridge so he could devote as much time as possible to rowing and battling the elements.
During his voyage, Quincey had broken two sets of oars, hit a whale, come close to running out of fresh water and his boat had rolled at least twice.
Champagne and a sandwich
Surrounded by friends, family and media on Ninety Mile beach, Quincey stood on shaky legs devouring a bacon and egg sandwich and pouring a bottle of champagne over himself.
"That is the best sandwich I’ve tasted in my life," Quincey said. "It's absolutely great, it's one of the best feelings I've ever had in my life."
He said getting used to being on steady, dry land would take time. "It's going to take me a few days to come to terms with the fact I've been at sea for 54 days."
"There's no better country to aim for I don't think than New Zealand, although we had some trouble aiming here a few times."
"I think we ended up rowing 4000km," he said.
Father’s inspiration
Quincey says that when the going got tough and he was feeling unmotivated and battling week-long Tasman Sea storms, he drew inspiration from the one person who could understand what he was going through - his father Colin.
"Something Dad said to me was basically all you have to do is hold on and just keep going," Quincey said.
"And really it was as simple as that. There was no need to complicate it with any motivational techniques - it was just hold on and keep going and focus on the next 10 minutes, not the next seven days."
Quincey said the experience had added to his tenacity and determination to achieve things.
Wildlife and weather
Some of the better moments during the crossing had been shared with marine life, including brushing up against a sperm whale.
"There were extreme situations - stuff I really enjoyed was the wildlife, surfing with dolphins in 40ft (12m) waves, seeing the whales and having days when you didn't know where the sea started and the sky finished."
Quincey said he would never forget being thrown around the cabin, buffeted by wild weather at night as he tried to sleep.
"You're wet the entire time, you're being thrown from side to side the entire time and you have no idea which way you'll be thrown next. The sea was constantly roaring" he said.
Future plans
With Colin Quincey’s boat on display in Auckland’s Maritime Museum, Shaun said it would be nice to see the Tasman Trespasser 2 on show alongside.
But the two-year campaign had been expensive and he'd racked up some hefty debts so the boat would have to be auctioned off.
His next adventure could be a two-man ocean rowing race from Coffs Harbour to Taranaki in 2013, he said.
Until then he planned to publish a book about his 54 days at sea and put together a short documentary.
When asked whether any future sons might carry on the tradition, Quincey replied that he wouldn't allow his son to try the journey.
More information:
Kiwi yachting hero celebrated
These topics may also be of interest to you
|
