A friend of mine sent me this rather tragic shot taken by kayaker Andrew McAuley, a very experienced paddler who went missing in the Tasman Sea back in February. McAuley was attempting to become the first person to take a kayak across the Tasman Sea, and he was very close — just 30 nautical miles — from doing so. He’d paddled for a long time, hard core during the day, and then drifting at night, sleeping for brief periods in his kayak. He’d crossed some 1500 kilometers and was close enough to the South Island of New Zealand to photograph its mountains. He was also able to snap this photograph, the last of himself on his camera, before he disappeared. He apparently sent a distress signal to the New Zealand Coastguard with two clear words: “help” and “sinking”. That was all.
The coast guard found McAuley’s kayak in the water ,but his body has not been found. Sadly, and perhaps irresponsibly, he did not have an immersion suit, which might have helped due to the cold water. But still, they found his camera, and the photo here was the last shot of him. A gruesome self-portrait.