Colin Quincey left Hokianga Harbour in Northland, New Zealand and staggered ashore in a force eight gale at Marcus Beach, just south of Castaway Cove on 10 April 1977. He had rowed his six-metre fibreglass dory Tasman Trespasser for 63 days 7 hours from New Zealand to Australia.
Quincey battled a bad back, setbacks by currents, screaming winds, sore fingers from bailing, sleepless nights and salt water irritations while completing his 2170 km arc across the top of the Tasman. On arrival in Australia Quincey exclaimed, "I've taken you - you bastard! I've won!".Colin Quincey’s self built Yorkshire dory was constructed to withstand a full force tropical cyclone. The plywood and fibre glass boat was lacking today’s modern wonders of Global Positioning Systems and satellite phones. Colin self navigated his way across the Tasman using a sextant and dead reckoning. Having to carry his own water, the entire hull was filled with 900 pounds of fresh water. The open top boat had a Radar Reflector and VHF radio aerial even though he communicated with no one over the course of his expedition as he lost his radio three days out from New Zealand.
With waves breaking one mile off Marcus Beach, Colin abandoned ship and let the whitecaps push his boat to shore with him dragging behind on a 6m rope. Residents wouldn’t let him in when he reached shore because they mistook him for an escaped criminal. After being initially shunned, he gained hospitality in a Marcus Beach house where he wrote a verse from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” on a garage wall. Though the original house has been demolished, the new owners have kept the wall and Quincey’s historic text as part of their new home. Peregian and Marcus Beach residents are pushing to rename the park where Colin landed the Tasman Trespasser Park.
This is a historical event taught to New Zealand children in school and the Tasman Trespasser boat is on display at the maritime museum in Auckland.
Thirty three years later, his 25-year-old son Shaun decided to emulate his father’s epic feat on board the Tasman Trespasser II, doing the reverse leg from Australia to New Zealand.
He set off from Coffs Harbour, NSW on 20 January 2010 and arrived 54 days later on 14 March 2010, becoming the first person to row the Tasman Sea from west to east solo. The Kiwi beat his father's record by nine days, battled broken oars, unpredictable currents, flipped his boat at least twice, bumped into a whale and almost ran out of drinking water. He swam the final 300 metres to Ninety Mile Beach on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island.
He doubted he would make it across the Tasman. Every previous west-to-east crossing solo attempt had failed. Australian kayaker Andrew McAuley, 39, died during his solo bid in February 2007. His body has never been found.
The west to east crossing had been done once before, but by a two man expedition of adventurers Justin Jones and James Castrission. Setting off from Forster, New South Wales on November 13, 2007 in their custom-designed double sea kayak, they succeeded where previous attempts, including the fatal journey of Andrew McAuley, had failed. They arrived at Ngamotu Beach, in New Plymouth, New Zealand on January 13, 2008.
