Solo

Documentary

Hopscotch Films 2008

R4 DVD

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

Solo is produced and directed by David Michod, Jennifer Peedom of Essential Media Entertainment for ABC Australia.

Andrew McAulay set out in 2006 to cross the Tasman Sea from Tasmania to Milford Sound in New Zealand, a trip of around 1000 kilometres, across a part of the Great Southern Ocean notorious for its savage weather. Many around-the-world solo yachtsmen have come to grief in these waters. Andrew was going to do the crossing in a kayak. He was never seen again. This film is the story of his fatal trip.

Andrew was a self-styled adventurer. From the photos shown in the film, he tried mountaineering, kayaking, and many other of the so-called “extreme” sports. He had already crossed by kayak from mainland Australia to Tasmania, and paddled across the Gulf of Carpentaria, buthe was still relatively inexperienced in ocean kayaking. . There is a big difference between a day’s mountaineering on land, where a rescue service with helicopters is just a phone call away, and long distance kayaking in an isolated area out of reach of rescue planes. Although people talk about “the thrill of the adventure” and “finding their limits”, what happens when the thrill wears off or you exceed your limits? Andrew had already made one abortive attempt to New Zealand and turned back on the second day suffering from hypothermia. From the film clips he took on the kayak, he may not have been mentally strong enough to face such a trip either.

His second attempt was driven by the news that a couple of young kayakers were going to try to paddle from Australia to New Zealand, setting off from New South Wales and crossing a safer, better-trafficked area of the Tasman Sea. He was a little better prepared this time. The kayak had a fiberglass hood fitted over the sleeping compartment, and much was made of the fact that when clipped in place the air trapped init would right the kayak if it capsized. Little was made of the other point, that it had to be left open to paddle the canoe. If the canoe was swamped by a wave or capsized while the canopy was not in place, the kayak would fill with water and sink like a rock. Against the advice of the Australian Marine Safety Centre and the Tasmanian Water Police, he set out again.

Once again the surviving film shows that Andrew was suffering psychologically. The trip would take about a month, but he was complaining about the hardship and being cold, wet and scared within a few days. He wondered if he was going to make it. This was in fine weather, but soon enough he encountered the storms for which the area is notorious. He was out of contact for a few days, but resumed radio contact after the storm. He appears to have been within sight of the New Zealand coast when something happened. A garbled radio message was received by the New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre saying that he was out of the kayak, which was sinking. He called an emergency and asked for help. Although they sent out a search aircraft that night, nothing was found. A more intense search was mounted the next day and Andrew’s capsized kayak was found within 30 kilometres of Milford Sound. There was no sign of him. The search continued for some days, but with no luck.

The film is a study of the effects on the survivors, as well as a documentary of the trip. It offers no explanation about why Andrew would take on a trip he was obviously mentally unqualified for. He appears to have had little consideration for the effects his death would have on his young family, or who would foot the bill for the massive and costly search and rescue. Giving it a grand name like the “TransTasman Kayak Expedition” does not excuse the project’s defects. Was Andrew foolishly overconfident? Criminally stupid? A selfish publicity seeker? Form your own opinion, but I cannot help but compare him with the suicidal idiots in Hella Crazy, a film about juvenile stunts reviewed in this magazine some time ago. The only difference I can see is that Andrew was old enough to know better and have more common sense.

This review will appear in Volume 2 No.3 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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