Exhausted kayakers going backwards

MARK DWYER/Daily News

A COLD ONE: Justin Jones and James Castrission are looking forward to a cold beer when they make it ashore in New Plymouth after two months paddling across the Tasman.

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Two Australian kayakers trying to cross the Tasman are showing "massive fatigue" and are going backward, expedition organisers have just warned.
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Justin Jones, 24, and James Castrission, 25, are just over 120 kilometres out of New Plymouth but their GPS track shows they have been moving westward for hours, away from New Zealand just as the weather gets tricky.

"It's getting messy out there," expedition organisers have just warned on their website crossingtheditch.

Castrission had leg muscle issues and may not be able to walk on arrival and Castrission has bursitis (inflammation of a fluid sac near a joint) on the elbow – crucial in paddling.

He was unable to sleep last night.

"They continue to show massive fatigue.

"Yesterday was really tough for the boys. Head winds, lots of chop and the frustration of seeing New Plymouth get further away on the GPS."

The organisers appealed to media travelling out to the kayak not to give them any assistance.

"They have spent 60 days smashing themselves and the Tasman and too much has gone into this for someone to jeopardise the record attempt."

The marine forecast for sea area Raglan is warning of 20 knots south east winds – which would carry them north – rising to 30 knots. It says seas will be rough with a south west two metre swell.

Expedition spokesman Tom Mitchell said despite podcasts which revealed yesterday that the pair were pining for fresh fruit, the smell of flowers and the sensation of walking on grass, Jones and Castrission were being reminded by support crew that it could be deadly to let their minds wander in the crucial days approaching land.

"It's deathly clear to these guys how dangerous this patch is."

Mitchell said the biggest risk was from the waves above the continental shelf running along New Zealand's western coastline.

The sudden change in depth at the lip of the shelf, from about 2km to 200 metres, would bring crashing waves.

The men were expected to cross on to the shelf and enter these lethal waters by the end of today. "That's our danger zone," he said.

Jones and Castrission are now expected in New Plymouth by Monday night, over three weeks behind schedule and low on food.

- © Fairfax NZ News