We wrote about those strong winds of Rotto earlier this week. How strong? A bloke called Frank Okely found out how strong on Tuesday. He was going to have a leisurely paddle from Thomson ‘round to Longreach, but ended up at Floreat.
(For our small army international readers: that’s kind of like intending to paddle from Keflavik to Reykjavik, but ending up at Scotland…or starting from Netanya and aiming at Jaffa, and finding yourself at Crete).
Excellent job from the mainstream media in covering this huge Rotto news: see the leads below…
“Never underestimate the sea,” Frank told reporters. Ah, the sea. As we’ve quoted Clive James quoting Jacques Cousteau before, there is no sentiment to the sea: zere is only ze struggle to survive.
WA Today: A Perth kayaker who is lucky to be alive after his journey around Rottnest Island went horribly wrong spoke of his ordeal today.
thewest.com.au: A 48-year-old West Leederville man has described how an afternoon paddle on a kayak turned into a fight for survival.
Perth Now: A PERTH man blown off course while kayaking around Rottnest Island could not fight the strong ocean currents so he paddled nearly 22km to the mainland.
ABC Perth: Police say a 48-year-old man is lucky to be alive after being swept away from Rottnest Island in a kayak.
(thewest.com.au and the ABC mention a place called Thomsons Bay, and Perth Now calls it Thompsons Bay - oops.)
There were some charming reader comments on Perth Now: this from Andrew of Broome: 'FOOL !!!! So much time and money is wasted on unprepared fools like this , they should be made responsible even if it makes them bankrupt. I am sick and tired of the daily expense nowdays to find fools like this, I don't pay tax for fools.'
Christ, if I'd known he was heading to Floreat I would have taken him down a thermos.
ReplyDeleteNow that Col's in charge, I'm surprised they didn't lock him up and send him to Christmas Island!