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Shaun Quincey - Source: ONE News -
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Trans-Tasman rower Shaun Quincey may have saved his biggest drama for the home stretch as he battles a northerly current which is threatening to sweep him past the top of the North Island.
Quincey has rolled at least twice since he left Australia on January 20, has broken two oars and got close to running out of fresh water.
However, his land crew say they are now seriously worried that if he cannot get out of the strong northerly current and head east, he could be swept rapidly north.
He might then have to be towed in as he could miss New Zealand completely.
In his latest twitter message from his boat Quincey says he is at the mercy of the weather.
"It doesn't like me much. Got my head down and rowing like a mean machine. C'mon NZ. Very keen to get home," he says.
Quincey is about 250km off Dargaville off the west coast of the North Island on Friday and missed a scheduled telephone call from his satellite phone to his land base.
Oliver Young says he has probably turned his phone off as he battles the northerly current.
"He is in an eddy at the moment which keeps going north and that current is moving at eight or nine knots.
"He is just a slave to it and he just has to try and get out of it.
"If it goes past the top of the North Island it doesn't let him go. It just keeps taking him north."
Young says Quincey told him of his fears on Thursday night.
"It's a real worry we have at the moment because last night his drift north was quite alarming.
"If this continues we will be waving at him as he goes by."
Young says coastguards and the National Rescue Co-ordination Centre have been alerted and there is a chance Quincey will have to be towed in although that is the last thing he wants.
