STAND-UP PADDLE SURFERS END ATTEMPT TO CIRCLE
FRASER ISLAND
Noosa stand-up paddle surfers Chris De Aboitiz and Woogie
Te Manu Marsh arrived back in Noosa today after being forced to call off
their attempt to paddle around Fraser Island.
The pair faced headwinds so strong that they actually went backwards during
the final stages of their challenge.
They battled unpredicted south-easterlies down the ocean coast of the
world’s largest sand island, and after putting in a marathon 10 hours of
paddling in one day, they were unable to complete the circumnavigation (300
kilometres) inside the allotted seven days.
The dejected team finally abandoned the attempt on Sunday afternoon, about
75 kilometres short of the Hook Point finish line.
“I was heartbroken, to be honest,” said Chris.
“Failure was something we simply hadn’t contemplated, but when you’re at the
mercy of the elements, you just have to give it your best shot and be
satisfied with that. I guess that’s why we called it a challenge.”
With purpose-built 16-foot ocean racers shaped by Stuart Campbell under
their feet, both paddlers made good time with the wind behind and made use
of the north-south east coast current and the short interval wind swell, but
paddling into the wind in open ocean proved difficult.
With a south-easterly wind howling in their faces, the paddlers abandoned
one day and opted to rest at Orchid Beach before resuming the marathon.
Then, over the next three days they advanced just 20 kilometres into the
wind before calling the challenge off.
The John Madill Toyota Fraser Island Stand Up Paddle Challenge, presented by
Golden Breed, was a lead-up event to the 2008 GSI Noosa Festival of Surfing
and a fundraiser for the Disabled Surfers Association.
The paddlers hoped to get enough support for their effort to kit out the new
Sunshine Coast branch of the DSA with essential equipment like aquatic
wheelchairs and soft surfboards. With donations still coming in, it looks
like the challenge raised more than $5000.
“This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life, so I hope it
does someone some good,” said Chris De Aboitiz.
“Seriously, both Woogie and I will be stoked if this marathon helps turn on
some disabled people to the stoke of surfing that we take for granted. And I
have to say that there’s a certain amount of satisfaction in the achievement
for us too.”
The pair are already plotting another challenge, and in 2008 it may even be
thrown open to competing paddle teams to see who will be the first to
conquer Fraser’s forbidding coast.