Record row for NZ team across Tasman
A Kiwi crew have become the fastest unsupported rowing team to cross the Tasman – but not in the way they had planned.
Team Gallagher, made up of Nigel Cherrie, Martin Berka, Andrew Mccowan and James Blake – son of yachting legend Sir Peter Blake – set off from Sydney Harbour Bridge on November 27.
The team reached the Bay of Islands today – 51 days later – and bade farewell to Berka but will continue to their planned finishing point, the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Berka said he had to leave the boat for personal reasons.
‘‘I received some news and I had to decide quickly about whether I am going to see my fiancee or not before she leaves somewhere, and it turned out to be very short notice, and I decided it’s time for me to stop.’’
He said he was disappointed to leave the crew before the end of the journey, but was proud of the achievement anyway.
‘‘Today basically what we’ve done is become the fastest unsupported crossing between New Zealand and Australia and also the first ever rounding of Cape Reinga and the North Cape in a rowing boat. So we are really proud of that, and, unfortunately, I had other obligations and I couldn’t finish the last few days.’’
Berka said the hardest part of the team’s epic voyage was a patch of bad weather, which left them sitting in their boat going nowhere, waiting for the storm to pass.
‘‘The mental part was the hardest for me, and I’m quite sure for the other boys as well. That is not to say it’s easy physically, but physical effort is easier to deal with perhaps than the mental one. You’re in an enclosed space, there’s nothing else to do and you are being thrown around a lot for days on end and you don’t know when it’s going to end.’’
But Berka said the team were a close unit, and frayed tempers were not among the problems of being cooped up in the 10.5-metre by 2m boat. ‘‘There’s so many external things trying to rip up the boat and pushing you, and you’re really struggling to just make sure that you are doing well and coping well. It was such a strong motivator for all of us that we didn’t have problems dealing with each other at all. In fact, we really helped each other quite a bit.’’
Berka’s in the next few days will catch up with his family and friends, eat good food and plan for return to work as a lecturer at Victoria University’s School of Economics and Finance. His teammates have left the Bay of Islands and are continuing on to Auckland.