Adventurer attempts to conquer waves and winds in ‘roaring 40s’ as clock ticks on New Zealand to Australia motorless challenge
Grant Rawlinson rowed from Singapore to Australia, cycled from the Eastern Seaboard and is now rowing across the Tasman home to New Zealand
Adventurer Grant Rawlinson has decided to enter the notorious ‘roaring 40s’, one of the roughest patches of ocean in the world, as he attempts to row from New Zealand to Australia.
“The biggest decision was where to launch and when,” Rawlinson said, who will leave shore in the Australian spring. “There is no season for doing this and not enough people have rowed the Tasman, so there is no reliable statics on when is best to go.”
The ‘roaring 40s’ refers to the 40 degrees latitude in line with the southern tip of Australia famed for it’s massive waves and relentless wind.
Singaporean Rawlinson has already attempted the crossing once – he rowed from his home in Singapore to Australia, then cycled towards Sydney and launched his boat towards New Zealand further north than this time.
But he soon became caught in a storm and had to sit in his cabin for days on end as his boat was slowly blown of course.
“Strategically I’m changing my mindset. I found it difficult being stuck in the cabin for 70 or 80 hours at a time,” he said. “I’m practising mindfulness to deal with the isolation this time.”