FINISHING LINE BY PETER RENDLE

FINISHING LINE BY PETER RENDLE

Risk

Having just read the latest web page of ill-fated adventurer Andrew McAuley, the whole question of this type of venture raises its head again.

Andrew was obviously a highly respected and well thought of man. A family man and father he undertook, what would appear to most people, a very high risk venture. He had attempted to paddle his kayak from Tasmania to Milford Sound in New Zealand’s South Island. The capsized kayak was spotted about 30 nautical miles form the New Zealand Coastline after the coast guard had received a garbled message form a "kayak1" requesting assistance. After a full scale search and rescue mission Andrew’s body was not found and the search was called of on the assumption that he had perished.

Sailors have caused their own part of air sea rescue history over the past few years. Who will forget the amazing rescue of Tony Bullimore who was recovered, alive, from his upturned yacht in the southern ocean while racing around the world. The Australian Navy eventually sent a warship to the stricken yacht and the images of Bullimore surfacing alongside the upturned hull of the yacht and then hauled into the waiting rescue boat were transmitted to every country in the world. That rescue received mixed response from the Australian public, mainly negative, as the press hammered home the cost of the rescue to the Australian tax payers. Always a sore point among any electorate.

So, do adventurer’s who risk their lives and possibly others have the right to take part in these high risk adventures, which may lead to a high cost rescue mission’ I do not have all the answers but I do think that people must be able to take a balanced look at what these ventures achieve, even if they are successful. I am not sure what point there was to trying to paddle across the Tasman. What would it have achieved even if it had been successful’ Just reading a few extracts from the various web sites relating to the crossing, it is apparent that Andrew was a very sincere person. The trip took ten years to prepare and he was determined to give it a go. However without wanting to sound repetitive, what would it actually achieve had it been successful’ Personal satisfaction, ego satiated; whatever. At the end of the day he leaves a young son fatherless and a distraught wife.

It is difficult to separate McAuley’s ill fated journey from Bullimore’s effort. Both had undertaken perilous adventures, alone and through some of the most unpredictable seas in the world. It is not as if the inherent dangers had not claimed lives before. The Tasman and the Southern Ocean have a history of tragic endings. Yachts, in particular, have disappeared without trace in both oceans in recent years. The perils are not unknown.

However, there should not be legislation to stop such carnage. People will not stop undertaking high risk ventures, whether it be kayaking, offshore sailing, mountaineering, bushwalking, skydiving or any of the extreme sports which are now well established as popular alternatives to more traditional pastimes. Journeys at sea can begin at any number of countries whose views or opinions about the viability of a trip may be of very little interest to the respective governments and within a few hours or days the journeyman has crossed national borders. Any rescuing that needs to be done becomes the responsibility of the nation in which that part of the ocean is covered by International Maritime Law. At the end of the day the responsibility lies with the friends and family of the person who wants to take on the risk. Rational discussion relating to the negative consequences of the journey have to be discussed at length and if necessary support withdrawn if the risk outweighs the rational. People have to understand that in achieving their life long goals attempting to climb an impossible peak, or rowing across the Atlantic in a dinghy, or sailing single-handed through treacherous seas, that they are not the only ones involved. If things do not go to plan and a rescue mission is launched, other lives are put at risk and in the case of a fatality, family members are left bereft of a parent on a spouse.

Ideally there would be a central body, with all the information at hand, to give a proposed mission a risk ranking with a high and low scale. If the risk was considered too high and outside an accepted scale then everyone involved in the venture would be better placed to support it or reject it. Not a total solution, but it might just stop any meaningless ventures that end up costing a fortune in search and rescue and a life time of tears for loved ones.