Who is Andrew McAuley?
Andrew McAuley (born 7 August 1968; presumed dead 9–12 February 2007) was an Australian mountaineer and sea kayaker. He is presumed to have died following his disappearance at sea while attempting to kayak 1600 km (994 mi) across the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand in February 2007. In January 2007, Andrew McAuley was nearly complete with a 1,000-mile open ocean crossing between the east coast of Tasmania and New Zealand’s South Island. With the seas relatively calm, and the mountaintops of New Zealand’s Southern Alps close enough to see on the horizon, McAuley disappeared.I’ve always been drawn to challenges at the sharp end of what is possible, initially with climbing and mountaineering, and more recently with sea kayaking,” McAuley wrote before his 2007 Tasman attempt. He planned to publish a book when he finished the crossing and had, in fact, already written a good deal of it.
How long was Andrew McAuley at sea?
Battling massive swells, unpredictable weather, and physical exhaustion, McAuley spent nearly a month at sea in his custom-designed kayak, enduring conditions that would break most. After 29 days alone on the water, McAuley was just 30 miles from the New Zealand coast when he made a distress call reporting trouble. A garbled distress call led to a search, where his overturned kayak was found near Milford Sound. The kayak was in great shape, but its cockpit canopy was missing. Inside, his paddle, satellite phone, GPS, and emergency beacon were all intact and working. Despite an extensive search, McAuley was never found.