Search called off for missing kayakerWellington - The search for a man who disappeared while trying to paddle a kayak 1,600 kilometres from Australia to New Zealand was called off Sunday night after it was revealed that he was not carrying an immersion suit.
Fricking genius...
Andrew McAuley's upturned kayak was found late Saturday night, about 80 kilometres off New Zealand's Milford Sound where he was due the next morning at the end of a journey that began in Tasmania's Fortescue Bay on January 11.
| So he went 1500 klicks without an immersion suit. It's that last 100 that'll get you every time ... |
And how much did the choppers cost? Less than the price of a DUI dry-suit, I reckon...
McAuley's wife Vicki and five-year-old son Finlay were awaiting his arrival at Milford, in New Zealand's South Island Fiordland.
I feel bad for them- seriously.
A Maritime New Zealand spokesman told Radio New Zealand the search had been called off and would be reviewed overnight. She said family members had advised that contrary to earlier information, McAuley was not carrying an immersion suit, which would have given him a better chance of survival.
In other words- IDIOT.
The helicopters searched a 10-square-kilometre area around where his kayak was found after a garbled emergency distress call was monitored on radio. His life jacket was not on the boat, raising hopes that he would have survived and be floating nearby. Radio New Zealand said McAuley had endured many capsizings, giant waves and the attention of sharks on his journey below the 40th parallel, an area that regularly produces some of the world's worst weather.
He was paddling a sea kayak fitted with a cockpit cover, offering some protection from the elements, and a solar panel to power instruments and communications equipment.
All of that, yet no dry-suit. What a fool.