A Royal Australian Navy ship is certain for the Coral Sea after a Lithuanian man making an attempt to row throughout the Pacific Ocean from San Diego to Brisbane received into bother.
Aurimas Mockus activated his emergency beacon on Friday night time about 740km east of Mackay, Queensland, and 90km west of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
He’s travelling solo on the rowing boat from the Californian metropolis to Brisbane and was battling winds as much as 100km/h and heavy seas as much as seven metres on Sunday, the Australian Maritime Security Authority (Amsa) mentioned. Mockus departed the US in mid-October 2024.
On Sunday afternoon, an Amsa spokesperson mentioned the company had communicated with Mockus by way of an interpreter by way of its Challenger rescue aircraft. Mockus reported he had no main accidents.
The Cairns-based Challenger jet didn’t spot his vessel on Saturday however managed to make contact with Mockus then. He mentioned he was drained.
One other plane was despatched from Royal Australian Air Power Base Edinburgh close to Adelaide.
HMAS Choules, a 16,000-tonne navy touchdown ship, was en route from Brisbane to the Coral Sea to help. Amsa mentioned the ship was anticipated to achieve Mockus by Monday morning.
Photographs taken by an RAAF plane confirmed the tiny vessel rolling on large waves within the Coral Sea.
On Thursday, Mockus mentioned that rowing was “out of the query – I have to survive”.
By that night, he informed his crew that he was in “God’s fingers” and that the approaching days had been “essential”.
“Final night time was totally sleepless, however with immense effort I efficiently navigated across the Chesterfield Islands’ reefs. From right here on it’s in God’s fingers. Crucial factor is to endure the following few days – they are going to be essential,” he mentioned.
“Proper now, I’m being carried at a really excessive velocity, however not but within the course I would like. I’m drifting a bit too far west – towards the approaching hurricane [cyclone].
“I hope the north wind will permit me to flee the hurricane (pushing me downward) because the drift is already large – I don’t have to row. There are 500 nautical miles left if I handle to row straight towards Brisbane. However that’s arduous to say as a result of the hurricane is ready forward.
“There’s no solar out within the ocean, so I need to preserve my battery energy as a lot as potential – I’ve already reached a important restrict. I’ve shut down all the things I can, leaving solely the power to speak with my shore crew. I simply spoke with them, they usually had nothing reassuring to say – I need to endure this wind.”
Mockus’s crew had not offered an additional replace by Sunday afternoon.
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Amsa mentioned on Sunday afternoon that climate circumstances had eased barely, “nonetheless, the realm remains to be throughout the affect of Tropical Cyclone Alfred with winds as much as 100km/h and 5-7 metre seas”.
The cyclone was about 500km east of Rockhampton on Sunday.
The class two cyclone was forecast to maneuver south, roughly parallel to the shoreline, earlier than weakening barely and shifting to the south-east on Monday.
It was then anticipated to gradual and switch west from Tuesday, travelling again in direction of the southern Queensland coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology mentioned robust to gale-force winds might impression Ok’gari – also called Fraser Island – on Sunday.
If Mockus makes it to Queensland, he could be the primary particular person to row throughout the Pacific on this specific route, he has mentioned. If he reached Australia in lower than 22 days from Sunday he would set a brand new Guinness report.
A small group of individuals have crossed the Pacific single-handed, together with the Britons Peter Chicken in 1983 and John Beeden in 2015, and the Australian Michelle Lee in 2023.
Additionally in 2023, 24-year-old Tom Robinson tried the feat however was rescued by a cruise ship after his boat capsized. In 2020, the Paralympic rowing star Angela Madsen died whereas making an attempt a solo journey from California to Hawaii.
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