AUTHORITIES in New Zealand have called off the search for missing trans-Tasman kayaker Andrew McAuley.
I’ve never met him, but my parents know him quite well. They know his wife and boy rather better, because Andrew tends to be off in the great outdoors. It was his dream to cross the Tasman in a kayak.[link]
It doesn’t look good. Not good at all.
Categories: Life
Soggy here, innit? 
In memoriam: Diana Rigg 
Getting out the ‘yes’ 
100 books by women in 2016 
Hoyden About Town 
This is probably really naive of me, but if his kayak made it in to M/Sound, surely he’s around somewhere nearby.
It’s very deep, very cold water. It wouldn’t take long for hypothermia to set in, sadly.
The kayak was found about 75km to the west of Milford Sound i.e open open open sea. In the context of what Andrew had covered – 1500m-plus kilometres – so close to success.
Search and rescue here covered a 25,000km sq km area, but with the currents apparently pushing him offshore, the chances were never good.
I’m sure that’s going to be the hardest part for his family to deal with. They were preparing to welcome him after his imminent triumph, and probably relaxed about his safety, feeling like it was already all over bar opening the bubbly.
If it had happened a week earlier while they were still keyed-up about the risks, I imagine it would have been somehow more predictable and somehow less horrible, although of course losing him would still be awful.