Matthew's trip log of how he 'saw' Andrew's Trip

2 December 2006 - Andrew McAuley started his first attempt on 2/12/06 and headed east for about 24 hrs in very strong westerly winds.  He identified some issues that made it difficult to keep warm while sleeping in the kayak.  (Read Andrew's website for his information).  He then made the gutsy decision to turn around.  He battled back into headwinds to get back to Maria Island and then Dunalley.

11 January 2007 - DAY 1 - Andrew McAuley returned to Fortescue Bay near the s/e corner of Tasmania.  There was a strong n/e wind earlier in the day which wasn't favourable.  When he had finished packing his kayak (his home for the next 3 weeks) 5 of us struggled to lift it to the water, down the boat ramp.  Even the campers nearby realised the significance of the occasion and the phenomenal task ahead of him.  Andrew appeared to be focused on the task at hand.  He climbed into his big 'station wagon' of a kayak and cruised away out of view towards Cape Hauy.   He headed off at 3.30pm.  The wind had settled and turned more to the n/w.

12 January & 13 January - DAY 2,3 - no news yet - winds have looked settled with a big high just over Bass Strait that should be giving Andrew light westerly winds.

14 January - DAY 4 - by 4pm today I think Andrew could have travelled 200km - 250km.  We are all wondering if he has been able to stay warm at night.  The daytime temps. in Hobart have been good since Andrew left.  We found out later in the day that Andrew was going well.  On the first night he headed about 16km to the north of his course and corrected this the next day.

15 January - DAY 5 - the weather looks favourable today.  There is a big high pressure system just to the east of Andrew that should be giving him light n/w wind.  The forecast looks like light northerlies for Tues 16 Jan & Wed 17 Jan and possibly turning light n/e from Wed to Thurs.

16 & 17 January - DAY 6, 7 - Andrew has been frustrated by northerly winds for the last few days.

18 January - DAY 8 - Start Week 2 - The wind looks like it will be turning more westerly.  It should lift Andrew's spirits & speed.

19-23 January - The wind hasn't been behind Andrew since roughly the 15th January now.  Looking at the weather charts it looks like a cold front will pass Andrew later today or tonight.  At least if it goes past him tonight, he will drift more in the right direction (as he drifts with his drogue out).  He may have another cold front on Thurs 25 Jan.  Looking ahead to 28 Jan, a great big 'high' is coming across towards Tasmania.  Andrew needs this to pass to the north of him to give him westerly winds.  I imagine that the Crossing the Ditch trip must be leaving any day now.

25 January - For the next 3-4 days it looks like the weather will be cold and windy for Andrew with the size of the swells increasing.  Andrew's cockpit insulation improvements will really be getting tested.  He must be very close to half way by now if he hasn't already past it.  While I am sure he wants tail winds, he would probably rather have a moderate wind than gale force with mountainous swells.

26 January - The chart for the next 4 days continues to show regular cold fronts passing over Andrew's position.  The swells size must be increasing.  As long as Andrew can cope with the swells he will be making faster progress and will be getting blown in a more favourable direction when he has the cockpit cover on.  His kayak will still be very heavy but he has used 2 weeks of fresh water that was stored in the boat.  Now that Andrew is past half way he will be counting down the k's to N.Z.  With favourable wind my guess is that he will reach N.Z on 4th Feb and take a few more days to get into Milford Sound.

27 January - It just shows that looking at a weather chart doesn't give us much idea what Andrew is going through.  Over the last few days it looked as though Andrew would have favourable conditions but today he had strong northerlies.  Andrew was wary before the trip of being taken (by wind and/or currents) too far south and missing the bottom of New Zealand.  Even if he doesn't arrive exactly at Milford Sound, the s/w corner of N.Z is 100km closer to Tasmania than Milford Sound is anyway.  From the s/w corner he could continue for 170km to Invercargill on the southern coast or up 220km to Milford Sound.  Andrew has been as far as 70km south of the line to Milford Sound but he is currently about 40km south of that line.  I am sure that he will be relieved to wash up on a beach anywhere to go through the process of teaching his legs how to walk again - like astronauts coming back from the space station. 

29 January - The wind will be getting very strong over the next 2-3 days and will provide Andrew with his biggest challenge so far.

2 February - February the 2nd is groundhog day in the US.  I hope that Andrew doesn't keep waking up in his kayak at 6am every day - still stuck under his cockpit cover 350km from New Zealand.  Andrew has done an incredible job to withstand the extreme winds and huge seas.  He had to get some severe conditions during his trip.  I think Andrew will get to New Zealand before the next cold fronts move across the Tasman Sea.  Normally when someone gets the sniff of the finish they give it everything to finish as soon as possible.  I think Andrew will do over 100km per day for the last few days but he would want to reach the coast in daylight to find somewhere to get his 'land legs'.  It will be really interesting to see what part of the coast he reaches first.  No matter where he arrives, this is the most courageous kayak trip ever.  Nothing compares to paddling across the Tasman Sea this far south.  It is outstanding!

Crossing the Ditch have announced that they have postponed their trip until next summer - 07/08. 

3 February - Andrew must have about 250km to go by the end of the day.  I think he will reach the coast on the 5th of February.  He will then need to get to Milford Sound if he is off course and paddle the 20km up Milford Sound surrounded by mountains.