Rower has incentive to finish

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 11:09

EXHAUSTED BUT STILL SMILING: Team Gallagher pictured on their specially-designed 10.5m x 2m boat ``Moana'' will be rowing down Northland's east coast this week on their way to Auckland from Sydney

A team of rowers aiming to cross the Tasman Sea from Sydney to Auckland has landed for supplies in the Bay of Islands, but they aren't staying long as repeated delays mean Martin Berka is now a man on a mission.

Mr Berka is desperate to spend time with his fiancee before she leaves for Taiwan in just over a week so he is eager to get the rowers' mission over as soon as possible.

Team Gallagher director Rob Hamill says Berka proposed to his Taiwanese partner five days before setting out on November 27 for what they all hoped would be a record-breaking journey.

With team-mates Nigel Cherrie, Andrew McCowan and James Blake, Berka aimed to beat a record set by four Australian men in 2007 who rowed to New Zealand in 31 days.

After a series of storms, injuries and equipment breakages, Team Gallagher are now on day 52 of their adventure, and the clock is ticking.

"I told my wife I'd be home for Christmas - I'm a little bit late," Cherrie told TV3.

After restocking at Urupukapuka Island in the Bay Of Islands yesterday, Hamill estimates the team will arrive in Auckland this weekend.

"Saturday if the weather's with us, but probably Sunday," he said.

Shaun Quincey, who rowed solo from Australia to 90-Mile Beach in 2010, commented on Team Gallagher's Facebook page: "$100 says you don't row under the harbour bridge NUDE !"

Team director Hamill won the first-ever Atlantic Rowing Race with the late Phil Stubbs in 1997, writing a book "The Naked Rower" about their adventure.

He wants as many Northlanders as possible to be waving from the coast while they move from the Bay of Islands down the Northland coastline to Auckland during this week.

For added incentive, their website doesn't rule out naked rowing, saying if they're warm enough Team Gallagher may give it a shot.

Their bright orange boat "Moana" will be quite close to the shoreline, said Hamill, so the public will be able to see them easily.

"They'll be visible wherever you are if you're going to be around."