|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 11, 2014 17:40:08 GMT 12
What a surprise - NOT - this idiot has had to be rescued from the sea today by a rescue helicopter.
A great use of SAR resources - I don't think! Especially at a time when the weather is so bad many people much more deserving are relying on the rescue services' resources.
Why on earth did this guy think he could achieve this in winter, with poor quality equipment, no chase boat and no rescue plan?
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 11, 2014 17:44:43 GMT 12
Plenty of people have done riskier things than him and ended up being hailed as heros for it.
Think of Charles Kingsford Smith.
Or Edmund Hillary.
I think, Dave, that your problem is that you have been seduced too much by the “cotton wool brigade” who think humans shouldn't do anything adventurous which is risky any more.
|
|
|
Post by beagle on Jul 11, 2014 17:51:07 GMT 12
what a bummer, so close, but the UNPREDICTABLE weather caught him out.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 11, 2014 17:59:22 GMT 12
Bullshit on the cotton wool brigade. I just have plain common sense. Something most people lack these days.
Risk in the face of foolhardiness is plain stupidity. And risking your life like Kingsford Smith or Hilary where no-one else is expected to come and pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong is different from this giant twonk who completely stuffed it up and then started to think about the consequences.
Had this guy actually planned his "adventure" well for all eventualities, like the last guys who rowed across the Tasman, I wouldn't give a shit.
And the weather is predictably rough and wild in the Tasman in winter Beagle, it always has been.
|
|
|
Post by vs on Jul 11, 2014 18:11:42 GMT 12
Dave is right…send him the bill!
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 11, 2014 18:23:46 GMT 12
The last guys who rowed the Tasman were lucky that things didn't go against them.
Like I already posted, the likes of Edmund Hillary and Charles Kingsford Smith did far riskier things than this chap did.
|
|
|
Post by Freighter5910 on Jul 11, 2014 18:25:26 GMT 12
.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 11, 2014 18:42:38 GMT 12
Hear hear!
|
|
|
Post by No longer identifiable on Jul 11, 2014 19:22:44 GMT 12
Scott Donaldson (the kayaker) has bigger balls than me, and I applaud his attempt to kayak across the Tasman. He is not the first to try this (Paul Caffyn was ready for an attempt decades ago but was prevented by Australian authorities), and of course Andrew McCauley almost made it to Fiordland in 2007 but was lost, presumed drowned.
These were all solo attempts, but in 2008 Justin Jones and James Castrission from Australia made the first successful double kayak crossing.
I can’t answer the question as to why they do this, but I guess part of the answer can be found in the reason why Bleriot flew across the English Channel (he could instead have flown the same distance over land). Whatever it is, I refuse to condemn and ridicule them.
The argument that they waste time and money on search and rescue, not to mention the lives of those that may go to their aid, is spurious and in this particular case, incorrect.
Spurious because search and rescue are staffed by people who love this work and know the risks, and incorrect because Donaldson is, according to news reports, going to pay for the efforts that were made to sustain and eventually rescue him.
John Funnell has no problems in helping this man, and perhaps even sees in him some of the same qualities that make Funnell a very brave pilot. If it’s OK with John, then it’s OK with me.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 11, 2014 19:35:57 GMT 12
Where's he getting the money from? A few weeks ago the guy's wife was saying he had absolutely no money to pay for the food and water drops...
I don't think my point of view is spurious at all. Whether the rescue crews love their job or not, and particularly in this weather, anyone forced to fly 50km or so out to sea is being put into unnecessary danger.
Regardless of the rescue, it's the piss poor planning and the expectation that someone else will step in when it all goes wrong despite a lack of a rescue plan that is this guy's major malfunction.
|
|
wayno
Leading Aircraftman
Posts: 2
|
Post by wayno on Jul 12, 2014 6:35:33 GMT 12
go back a few decades, NZ's most successful long distance kayaker Paul Caffyn wanted to kayak the tasman... the aussie authoriies told him, if he attempted it, he would be arrested/
paul had done several firsts circumnavigating NZ, and Aus... the alaska coastline...
|
|
wayno
Leading Aircraftman
Posts: 2
|
Post by wayno on Jul 12, 2014 7:56:39 GMT 12
I think the resupplies were done on charity or IOU, his wife has been asking for charity to help as they are out of money... I think TVNZ paid for exclusive coverage of the resupplies..
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Jul 12, 2014 11:25:39 GMT 12
Correct.
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 16, 2014 21:57:04 GMT 12
Australian soldier killed in crevasse fall on Aoraki/Mount Cook(click on the photograph to read the news story)
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 16, 2014 22:49:44 GMT 12
It beggars belief why anybody would walk around on the Grand Plateau in winter or spring without roping up for glacier travel.
It's the most basic rule No.1 of moving around on glacier basins or nevés.
|
|
|
Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 21, 2014 19:35:57 GMT 12
Another adventurous Kiwi getting out there beyond the edge....good on her.... • Kiwi conquers the Pacific(The New Zealand Herald — Monday, July 21, 2014)
|
|