Gripping true story of being lost at sea
Adrift at sea for almost three weeks, a young Tony Allan had plenty of time to look down the barrel of his own mortality.
Now, 40 years on from his ordeal, he looks back over the event with the launch of his book, Alone in the Tasman, and how it is shaping his plans for the future.
Alone in the Tasman, as told to Les Hill, is an inspiring story of survival as Allan battled through nightmares, hearing voices, loneliness, and absolute vulnerability. His is the longest-known survival on the Tasman Sea in a life raft.
He was just 28 when he had to face the ordeal – he had been competing in the Solo Tasman Yacht Challenge in 1974 and was sailing back to New Zealand from Mooloolaba when his boat, Rebel II, capsized two days into the journey, leaving him adrift in his life raft for 20 days.
As he wasn’t expected back to Lyttelton for another 12 days, and with no form of radio contact, he had no choice but to try to survive.
He had two books to keep him occupied -- a technical sailing book full of complicated formulas which he forced himself to remember to keep his brain active, and the other a Playboy with pages stuck together with salt water, which he admits was no use to anyone.
Allan, who now lives in Pegasus, said he originally wrote the story for his children and grandchildren, mainly to prove he had lived a life and was not ‘‘just an old fart’’. And it is a gripping tale, complete with encounters with sharks, a sinking liferaft and how instinct told him to throw away two of his six tins of food.
‘‘I had always had a positive attitude and I always believed I would be picked up, it was just what state I’d be in,’’ Allan said.
The question of suicide was one which ultimately did cross his mind, in particular at what stage he would make that decision. Having been up close and personal to such thoughts, he is well placed to help others he hopes this will be the outcome of his new book.
‘‘I’ve had a good look at it close up so I plan to give a lot of time to mental health, something that has really been overlooked in New Zealand.
‘‘I can relate very well to guys who have been to war and put in isolation.’’
Alone in the Tasman can be ordered via the Alone in the Tasman Facebook page, and Allan is happy to talk to schools, RSAs and other groups about his ordeal and associated mental health issues.