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Shaun Quincey - Source: ONE News -
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A Kiwi rower attempting to row solo across the Tasman is vowing
to continue after his boat capsized.
Twenty-five year old Shaun Quincey set out from Australia over a
month ago and all was going to plan until he was forced to activate
an alarm on Tuesday night after his boat, the Tasman Trespasser 2,
flipped and started taking on water.
Tuesday night Quincey was reminded his trip is no joking matter.
"The boat ended up flipping end over end and then it ended up rolling twice so that was quite horrific," he says.
He activated an alarm on his tracking beacon alerting his support crew and Maritime New Zealand's rescue co-ordination centre.
"The distance offshore makes it difficult to actually send a helicopter out straight away so what we look at is any available vessel in the area that we may be able to divert," says Geoff Lunt from the rescue co-ordination centre.
He badly hit his head and there were fears he has lost too much equipment to continue but it seems the essentials survived.
"He's got most of his equipment still, especially his lifesaving equipment which is important in case he does get into a real serious situation," says Lunt.
Although the situation was serious, Quincey assured shore crew he was doing well, both physically and mentally.
He decided to get some rest and wait out the night, and the New Zealand Rescue Co-ordination Centre remained on standby to launch a rescue operation if required.
Deciding to continue was not easy.
"I've still got a hull, I've still got two oars and I've still
got food and water so I don't see any reason to stop
Quincey's father was the first to row the Tasman solo back in 1977
and is still the only one to achieve the feat.
In 2007, kayaker Andrew McAuley drowned making a similar attempt and his kayak was found just 35 nautical miles from land.
Quincey's about half way through his journey. He has about 400 nautical miles until he reaches New Zealand's coast, exactly where is unsure, but he is due in around the middle to end of March.
RCCNZ will continue to monitor the rower as he made his way towards New Zealand.
You can follow developments on Shaun Quincey's personal website where he has a blog to follow, podcasts and a live map . You can also follow him on Twitter.
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