Andrew McAuley
23. Feb, 2009 
11 Comments
Last night BBC2 aired a documentary about Andrew McAuley, the Australian Sea Kayaker and all round adventurer who tragically lost his life attempting to kayak across the Tasman Sea, a distance of 1600km.
Unfortunately I missed the programme but for those of you based in the UK it is still possible to see it via the BBC’s iPlayer. The BBC has a page about the documentary.
From Wikipedia:
Andrew McAuley (1968 – presumed dead 2007) was an Australian adventurer. He is best known for his mountaineering and sea kayaking in remote parts of the world. He is presumed to have died following his disappearance at sea while attempting to kayak 1600km across the Tasman Sea in February 2007.
In 2003, he made the first non-stop kayak crossing of the Bass Strait. In 2004, he kayaked across the Gulf of Carpentaria. In 2006 he led an expedition in the Australian Antarctic Territory where they paddled over 800km within the Antarctic Circle.
On 11 January 2007, in an attempt to be the first to kayak across the 1600km Tasman Sea, he left Australia for New Zealand. He made his crossing alone in a standard, commercially available kayak with only small modifications to allow him to sleep in the cockpit. On 9 February 2007, just 80km off the west coast of New Zealand’s Milford Sound, the New Zealand Coast Guard reported receiving a garbled message from ‘Kayak 1′ that contained the words ‘help’ and ’sinking’.
The next day his kayak was recovered, partially flooded, but there was no sign of McAuley. The search, air and sea, continued for a further two days but was called off on 12 February 2007 with McAuley presumed drowned. There is a documentary film called ‘Solo’ about the attempt.
On 22 February 2009, on BBC2 television in UK, a documentary was broadcast about the fatal trip of the kayak across the Tasman Sea. It included pictures and videos taken by Andrew during the journey across the sea. The footage shown was all found on one memory card, which was discovered on the kayak. There were six hours of video tape also found on the kayak, but these had been destroyed by salt corrosion. The documentary gave all details up until the disappearance of Andrew McAuley.
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Excellent, but very sad, particularly as his death was probably “preventable” – the message I got from this was keep your epirb attached to your life jacket at all times (they found his in the boat) make sure your life jacket has sufficient bouyancy (he said he was sinking just as his last message cut-off) and keep your self tethered to your boat in open water where there is any risk of being separated from it (they found the boat, but not him and the boat had clearly not sunk). Possibly it emphasizes the dangers of hypothermia – particularly one’s inability to make good choices when cold.
Thanks for that Simon – to be honest, a colleague described a harrowing scene of Andrew leaving the beach whilst his son was crying and as a relatively new father I’m not sure I have the stomach to watch that quite yet. Interesting to hear the lessons you feel could be learned from this.
I have amazed quite how many non-paddling folk have spoken to me about the documentary. It seems to have had a wide reaching impact.
Just seen the documentary and completly blew me away. kayaking in that makes these ocean rowing boats look like a walk in the park! cant imagine what your mind goes through stuck in that position for 30 days.? absolutly incredible, what a true adventurer and inspiration
Probably the most harrowing documentary I have seen ,the way it was filmed made you feel so close to the person (almost as if you knew him ) and the action . I felt so sorry for his wife and family . I cant help thinking that he pushed himself to the limit in the past so many times eventually it always catches up with you. He was a brave adventurer and I have a great respect for him, I wonder if he should have spent a bit more time and money on the casper pod thing , it would have been a good thing if it had been sealed and water tight in both positions ie when folded back ward when he was paddling . Anyway thats hindsigt he wanted to do it in a traditional Kayak, and he almost made it .
I also saw this documentary and found it disturbing, but not overly inspiring. I realized for the first time how selfish these pursuits can be. Andrew described how his wife needed a husband, his son a father, and that he didnt have an answer for why he was doing this. Do you have to wait until you are 25 days at sea in waves, stormy seas, hungry, sleep deprived to appreciate what you have in life? This film was a cautionary tale, and a reason to think before taking risks. I found it interesting that in the days before he drowned he kept himself alive by thinking of weddings he needed to attend and friends he needed to see again. I dont imagine he thought of these things as necessary or important before leaving. Again, its a selfish thing to do.
Laura, It is far to easy to feel angered or frustrated with Andrew because he did not know ‘why’ he was taking such a risk. You are not overly inspired because you perhaps don’t understand why he loved the ‘idea’ of his adventure. Everything human starts with an idea, people brave enough to follow their instincts can realize their ideas to interpret them for others, the idea of an invention for the world, or a sentiment felt in the world but not shared. Somebody has to be the first to make it real, seen and heard. One person.
‘Solo’ is indeed one of the most stirring documentaries to be made in living history. Lifted to that highest degree by the fact his apparently selfish motives did finally turn against him and devastate his family and friends.
What lessons of the ‘Self’ Andrew might have brought home had he succeeded would ultimately have been of massive global human interest and an offering to the world entirely unselfish in nature. A story of survival for humanity at it’s farthest reaches of understanding. The storm with 20 foot waves was something he KNEW would happen. He wanted the storm because he wanted to learn from it. He wanted to survived it, which he did, but his lessons were lost when his mind and body were consecrated to the deep some days later.
He knew the answer for him would lie in the Tazman. Sadly it’s in the Tazman his thoughts still lie and people will have to look to others to inspire them. Other people breaking new ground on their own, who pursue seemingly impossible and selfish goals with the potential to benefit us ALL.
How could he drown with a life preserver amd a drysuit on? Shouldnt he have just held on or tethered himself to the kayak? At 80 kilometers out there arent any Islands or reefs right? I dont understand how he capsized because if he wasnt rowing he had the CASPER on. If he was rowing then conditions were favorable so how the hell did his boat take on water???
Not sure if its too late to publish comments about Andrew but I.m a local kayaker and I continue to play this program now and again because for all sorts of reasons its a compelling film. The struggle in Andrew’s mind between being a father and an adventurer are there for us all to see, the agony of his first attempt to leave and his worry about leaving his precious wife and son.
The absolutely tragic ending is so sad considering he was almost there but my first instinct would to put all the blame on his so called support team.
The Casper and its design was obviously not thought through enough and caused his death. The support arms were dangerously weak and the cockpit should have been modified and allowed more space for occupancy. The capsize of a kayak depends so much on getting back in which is no mean feat when you are on your own. Then the craft has to be bailed out of the water and then you have to hope that all your food and gear is still in one place. All of this effort to raise your boat is fine if your fit and well but tired with lack of food and sleep and hypothermic, unbelievable.
This film is so sad but shows Andrews battle between human spirit and being a father and Husband.
I just saw his documentary and just loved it but was sad that he didn’t make it in the end. He was soo close yet soo far .
“If he was rowing then conditions were favorable so how the hell did his boat take on water???”
Dave,
That’s exactly what that foreign wheather forecaster says about the approach to New Zealand. It may look calm, but out of nowhere you can have powerful but not big 2-3 meter sets of waves. That capsized him, and either his CASPER broke there or earlier on his trip, which made the CASPER hang down from underneath the his kayak, making it impossible for a human being to roll it back up – simply because of the CASPER hanging that much lower down.
I have seen this documentary at least six times. I love how they’ve made you able to get so close to Andrew, the sea, the waves, the music and the rest of the advanture. I speculated a lot in the beginning… Like, how come he wasn’t able to roll it back up when the CASPER was missing from the kayak when they found it? Well, the steam or the flow, the power if so to speak just right under the sea level must have torn rest of it off before they found it.
In my mind he made it. Yet I keep thinking – what a sin.
Jeg beklager at jeg kommer til at skrive forkert i den første kommentar jeg skriv…
Jeg så på computeren katastrofekurs: Andrew Mcauleys forsøg på fra Australien til new zealand strækning på 1600 km 2007/Andrew bedrift hav kajak sejlads! når man har sat sig i kajakken ja så sidder man der indtil man når målet! tænk på at man skal sidde i kajakken en hel måned det er enormt langt tid! ingen sofaer til at slappe af for andrew… Nej manden var bundet til at sidde i kajakken fordi han havde et formål med sin bedrift og interesse: Manden havde jo vilje i sin bedrift formål. og det er gennem fører sin udfordring den enorme strækning på 1600 km
for mig er det enormt langt 1600 km / spise og drikke hele vejen… og manden skal også ha søvn! sådan er også mennesket indrettet! min opfattelse af andrew: Manden var udmattet af sin anstrengelser tror jeg! Selv om han vat tæt på nå målet. Ved udmattelse kan man også miste lysten til at indtage føde til sig tror jeg. Mangel af søvn udmattelse kan også forårsage ud af kontrol tror jeg også. Hans sidste nød råb eller meddelelser lyder som om manden var fuld i mine ører! manden var udmattet af træthed derfor tror jeg ved udmattelse kan vedkomne ændre stemmen??? Jeg tror manden var totalt udmattet også af træthed fryse nedkøling af kroppen. Har man ikke viljen til at overleve ja så er man på katastrofe kurs! Andrew har ellers klaret enorme bølger igennem, totalt udmattelse er måske årsagen til at han omkom… ligesom knud Rasmussens slæde kusk på grønland han overlever ikke også fordi han var totalt udmattet af træthed derfor omkom også… Andrew var nær målet men omkom. ære være hans minde…