A BRITISH solo
rower was today rescued off the east coast of New Zealand - 30 hours
after pounding waves broke his two oars and swept away his gear.
Jim Shekhdar was attempting a non-stop solo journey from the southern
port of Bluff to Cape Town in South Africa.
A rescue ship plucked the veteran solo rower from the southern Pacific
Ocean at 8.25am UK time after he called for help when his vessel
rolled several times in severe weather.
His two rowing oars broke, and his spare oars were washed from the
deck.
National Search and Rescue Coordination Centre spokesman Paul Harrison
said Jim was "in a pretty reasonable state, though cold and wet and
with a lump on his head."
The 57-year-old adventurer suffered a minor head injury when heavy
winds and large waves tossed around his 26ft rowboat, Hornette.
A New Zealand air force Orion P3 maritime surveillance airplane guided
the ship to the tiny vessel, Mr Harrison said.
It used the rowboat’s emergency beacon signal to locate it in almost
calm seas.
Jim was picked up about 750miles east of New Zealand in the southern
Pacific Ocean.
Mr Harrison said the rower was expected to arrive back in New Zealand
on December 10, after the research vessel that rescued him completes
an assignment.
It wasn’t known whether the rowboat would be recovered.
This is the second time the solo adventurer has called for help since
he launched his bid last month to row the 9000 miles from Bluff to
Cape Town via treacherous Cape Horn at the stormy tip of South
America.
The Briton was towed back to New Zealand on October 17 after
travelling just 50 miles, when his GPS system and wind-powered
generator failed.
Jim, who expected his journey to last seven to 12 months, previously
said he would be crossing some of the world’s roughest waters in
"probably the best-built cork in the world."
The rower, from Northwood near London, has already rowed across the
Atlantic and completed a solo row of the Pacific from Peru to
Australia in early 2001.
After 274 days at sea, Jim became the first person to row across the
Pacific unassisted but was forced to swim the last 30 metres when his
boat capsized.
Jim survived encounters with sharks that tried to ram his vessel and a
tanker that almost sank him, but had to swim to shore when his boat
flipped over in the surf metres away from the finish.
