one thing that will forever be burned into my brain
is the last known photo of Andrew McAuley
and his final words before being lost at sea
on January 11th, 2007 38 year old Andrew McAuley
attempted to kayak almost 1,000 miles across the Tasman Sea
from Australia to New Zealand
this didn’t seem crazy to him
because he was a mountaineer and a really experienced sea kayaker
having completed multiple long distance solo kayaks in the past
he even led an expedition where he paddled over 500 miles on his kayak
but he wanted to do something bigger
something that no one had ever done before
so his goal was to be the first person ever to solo kayak non stop
across the Tasman Sea
but his journey would only last one month as he completely disappeared
Andrew’s trip started out great
he would document his travels for his family
by taking daily photos and videos of himself on the water
and he seemed to have a nice little setup
he was paddling on a new 19 foot insulated kayak
with a yellow fiberglass canopy that had a cartoon face on it
which he named Casper this was placed on the cockpit
for Protection against rough storms out on the open water
and when he went to sleep at night
he would seal himself inside
allowing a ventilator to let an airflow
but it prevented any water from getting inside the kayak if it became submerged
but suddenly a month into his journey
he encountered a massive storm with dangerous waves
that sent him and his kayak into multiple barrel rolls
30 feet under the waves
somehow
Andrew survived the storm with only a little bit of damage to his kayak
and things seem to be turning around
he even sent his wife and young son a message saying:
“see you 9:00am Sunday!”
so his friends and family started planning his welcome home party
but on the evening of February 9th
just one day later he sent out a horrifying distress call
and it’s something that I will never be able to forget
Andrew disappeared after this
and by the next night a massive search was conducted
in the part of the ocean where he was most likely to be
But the only thing ever found was his upturned kayak
it was only 35 miles short of his intended destination
which is heartbreaking
whats strange though
is that his kayak was in near perfect condition
only having suffered minor cosmetic damage from the storm the night before
Andrew’s paddle, phone,
GPS tracker and his emergency radio were all still inside the kayak
search and rescue also found one memory stick from his camera
that happened to still be intact
and on it were the last known images of Andrew
this is the last photo that he ever took
and it’s haunting you can see the absolute fear and horror in his eyes
3 days later the search for him was officially called off
and to this day he has never been found
because of the strange condition in which his kayak was found
conspiracy theories started to spread
about what really happened to Andrew that night
but the most logical explanation is that he likely capsized while Casper
the canopy was out of place
if Casper wasn’t secured in just the right position
it would fill with water like a bucket
so if he capsized he would have to swim out of the kayak
push it upright and then climb back in
which would be incredibly hard to do in a massive storm and just in general
so the theory is that he did capsize at some point
and with the kayak being so heavy with all of his gear
it was probably too heavy to flip back over
he then likely got separated and drowned
although his body has never been found
Andrew is presumed de@d
and is likely somewhere still out there in the Tasman Sea..