Australian Associated Press 30/03/2001 (4)

March 30,2001 (4)

FINAL LANDING STORY

by Dale Paget

Rower Crashes into Australia

GOLD COAST, March 30 AAP - British adventurer Jim Shekhdar ended his Pacific Ocean crossing in dramatic fashion today when pounding surf threw him from his rowing boat and forced him to swim for his life. The first person to row unassisted across the Pacific Ocean, Mr Shekhdar emerged from the sea at a Queensland beach looking like a desert island castaway, sporting a long beard and wayward grey hair. Mr Shekhdar's first words as his feet touched the sand on North Stradbroke Island were reserved for his waterlogged boat which had carried him more than 13,000 kilometres from Peru but had beaten him to shore. "Bloody boat," he shouted. "Anyone would think it was a race. It was determined to get here before me." After 274 days alone at sea, the 54-year-old former computer salesman was planning to ride a wave triumphantly to the beach. But the two metre shore break picked the boat up and rolled it over - tossing Mr Shekhdar into the surf. While his wife Jane; two daughters Anna and Sarah; and his sister Jan Bennett watched anxiously from the beach; Mr Shekhdar climbed back on board to try again. But again he was hit by a wave and tossed back into the sea. He swam the final 200 metres and collapsed into the arms of his family. "Pretty wet (but) pretty good," he said with a wide smile. "I had no doubt I'd make it, I just thought I'd make it with the boat instead of going separate." Mr Shekhdar was given a cold beer on the beach and said he was looking forward to a hot shower, a steak and a serve of icecream. In addition to the unassisted record, Mr Shekhdar's crossing was also the fastest - twenty days quicker than the assisted effort by Englishman Peter Bird who rowed from San Francisco to the Great Barrier Reef in 1983. Mr Bird died in 1996 while attempting a westerly crossing of the Pacific. For Mr Shekhdar, a highlight of the journey came early this morning when he spied Australia. "She looks absolutely beautiful," Mr Shekhdar said via satellite phone soon after spotting south east Queensland. With a little help from his oars, he had been carried by currents and winds across the Pacific Ocean. The journey from Peru had taken three months longer than expected and his food supplies were almost exhausted. The serenity of Mr Shekhdar's final day at sea was short lived. After rowing in near anonymity for the best part of nine months, his arrival sparked a media frenzy. A small squadron of helicopters, filled with British and Australian news crews, buzzed overhead as Mr Shekhdar crashed onto the beach at North Stradbroke Island and took his first awkward steps on land. "One large step for Jim and one little step onto the shore," he mused. "I've learned that nothing is as difficult as it seems at the start. I've always believed that if you are going to do something you've got to start and then it will get done but I think you can do anything if you want to." Initially Mr Shekhdar joked about the enormity of his accomplishment but later admitted there was at least one moment, in the shadow of a giant oil tanker, when he feared for his life. The only other scare came from sharks - in particular a 3.5 metre white pointer that attacked his boat on six separate occasions. "The boat is called Le Shark so maybe they thought they were mating or something," Mr Shekhdar said. He attached a knife to a broken oar to repel the man eater but it shadowed the boat for several months. Mr Shekhdar survived mostly on the food supplies he carried on board. Forgetting a can opener made things more difficult. His porridge and soup ran out a week ago. Surprisingly, fish were off the menu. "I don't like killing my friends and I've been talking to the fish quite a lot," he revealed. "A yellow fin tuna jumped into the boat once ... he must have weighed 30 kilograms but I put him back in." For the time being Mr Shekhdar plans to keep both feet on dry land. "I'm pretty happy with life. I'm ready to get back into it," he said. But the long days alone on the high seas also gave him time to think about an even more perilous rowing attempt some time in the future. "It's going to cost a lot the next one and it's going to be dangerous as well so don't tell the wife yet," he said with a chuckle - refusing to elaborate further on where he'll row his boat to next. The Ocean Rowing Society, which has kept track of the more than 100 ocean rowing attempts since 1896, confirmed Mr Shekhdar's crossing as one of the greatest ever. "In ocean rowing circles it's enormous," said society executive director Kenneth Crutchlow, who admitted he hadn't given Mr Shekhdar more than a 50 per cent chance of making it. "It was not well planned, he even forgot his tin opener, but he has made up for it with determination and ingenuity."