A homemade kayak abandoned during a Gold Coast man’s attempt to paddle solo and unassisted from Australia to New Zealand has washed up close to its destination almost 18 months later.

Stuart Cleary last saw his kayak Tasman Odyssey on December 7, 2014, when he was forced to abort his mission almost 24 hours after taking on water following a series of equipment failures.

This morning he was contacted by New Zealand man Nathan Marshall, who stumbled across the vessel during a run on Murawai Beach, on the North Island, about 50 kilometres from Mr Cleary’s original destination.

It was damaged, covered in barnacles, and missing equipment, but otherwise still in one piece.

Mr Marshall posted a picture on Facebook, fearing someone may be lost at sea, before Mr Cleary was alerted to the discovery.

“It’s just absolutely unbelievable it made it all the way,” the 54-year-old told ABC News.

“I thought it was impossible it would ever been seen again.”

Mr Cleary built the kayak with no previous experience over a year in a friend’s garage.

It cost him an estimated $25,000 to build, and weighed about 120 kilograms on its own.

“It’s gone all the way from 110km off Coffs Harbour to near Auckland on its own,” he said.

“One thing I’m just absolutely chuffed about is that it’s been able to handle all that without any major structural damage.”

Mr Cleary gave up hope of ever seeing the kayak again in early 2015.

“I’d thought it’d washed up within three months on the east coast of Australia,” he said.

Source
Patrick Williams
ABC News