Rowers sore, dolphins $9k better off
It started as an outlandish idea over a beer – it ended up being a 90-kilometre, 11-hour slog in a row boat.
Four hardy, very tired, rowers and their two sweeps reached North Beach in Christchurch at 2.45pm on Saturday.
They had left Akaroa Harbour, 87km away around Banks Peninsula, at 4am. Their mammoth effort raised $9000 to protect New Zealand’s endangered Maui and Hector’s dolphins.
‘‘It’s gone really well . . . We’re obviously a bit sore but everyone’s in really high spirits. It helps when you’re able to see Christchurch,’’ rower Rob Mccaig said as the group took a quick break on the water.
‘‘The morning was pretty tough because it was dark for the first two hours. Just going up through the harbour . . . it took us a bit longer to get out of there.
‘‘After then we were ahead of schedule the whole way.’’
The idea to row from Akaroa to Christchurch took flight after Mccaig suggested it to a few friends over a beer.
‘‘They all jumped at the idea,’’ he said.
‘‘After double checking the next day we had the crew sorted and it all developed from there. It was something fun for us to do. Well maybe not fun, more a challenge . . . No-one’s ever done it in one day, in a surf boat, so why not?’’
Mccaig said most people learning of their plan would reply by saying: you lot are nuts; so they decided they ‘‘should be using this element of crazy to do some good’’.
The group reached out to world champion free diver William Trubridge who suggested they look to help our ‘‘sea kiwi’’ – Maui and Hector’s dolphins.
Trubridge, an ambassador for the dolphins, directed the rowers to the NABU International Foundation for Nature, which works to preserve the species.
Between 12,000 and 18,500 Hector’s dolphins remain around New Zealand’s shores, the only place they live, according to research by Nelson’s Cawthron Institute.
The Maui dolphin, a subspecies of the Hector’s, has recorded numbers of fewer than 50.
Since beginning their campaign, the group had raised more than $9000 for the cause on its Givealittle page.
More information about the cause can be found on the Facebook page: Rowing to save our Kiwis of the Sea.