Andrew McAuley admitted he ‘may have bitten off more than I can chew’ in a chilling last video message recorded before the kayak was discovered capsized and abandoned
This is the haunting final image of a kayaker who vanished at sea – and has never been found.
Andrew McAuley disappeared in the choppy Pacific Ocean during a solo kayaking expedition after he set off on what was supposed to be a month-long endeavour. He took on a challenge to become the first person to paddle a kayak between his native Australia and New Zealand in the treacherous Tasman Sea.
But the daredevil recorded a chilling video message, in which he reportedly said: “I may have bitten off more than I can chew” – and then he was gone. He was just a few days from completing the mammoth challenge. This eerie photo, taken at a similar time to the video message, has resurfaced on Reddit, nearly 18 years after Andrew vanished. His body still hasn’t been found but the kayak was discovered capsized and abandoned about 50 miles offshore of New Zealand.
The memory card to Andrew’s camera was also recovered in the kayak, and so authorities had access to this snap. In it, the exhausted Aussie, who has thick sunblock covering portions of his face, looks directly the camera as a vast wave rises behind him.
When the kayak and belongings were found – and Andrew wasn’t – the search for the man was called off. It left his wife Vicki distraught and, at a memorial service in February 2007, she said: “You’ll go down in history” as she paid a poignant tribute to her partner.
Speaking at the service, Vicki added: “I chose this lighthouse for you today not only because it looks over the Tasman but because it symbolizes what you’ve always been, and what you continue to be for me, my beacon of light.
“I also chose it for its historical significance, it is Australia’s first lighthouse and you, my very brave man, have just achieved an historical first, paddling a kayak across the Tasman.”
The Sydney Morning Herald reports Andrew may have drowned while asleep in his kayak though, without discovering his body, it is impossible to confirm this was the case.
