BERHAMPUR: Sandy Robson (46) of Australia has embarked on setting a world record by rowing her kayak from Germany to Australia.
Sandy is retracing a historic journey which Osker Speck of Germany undertook in 1932 and finished in seven years. She plans to finish the same by 2016 and is currently on stage three of her journey going through the East Coast.
A teacher by profession, Sandy rows for an average of eight to 13 hours a day and lodges on shore once a week to collect ration, food and drinking water. She carries her clothes, maps, gadgets in her kayak.
Speaking to this paper, she said her journey along the Indian East Coast was not as pleasant as it was through Europe or the West Coast of India. While she was going along Visakhapatnam coast, fishermen attacked her and looted her belongings. But, the sea along East Coast has ample scope for promotion of water sports like kayaking, wind surfing and snorkelling. Sandy had covered Gopalpur-on-sea on Sunday. Curious about her journey, many came to the shore to greet her.
“As people here see a woman kayaking for the first time, they were inquisitive and asked me a lot of questions,” she said.
Sandy left for Chilika from Gopalpur and reached Purunabandh village on Monday evening. Due to bad weather, she would stay in the village where locals have arranged shelter and dinner for her. From Chilika, she would proceed to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
In her website (www.sandy-robson.com), she writes “I am not afraid of pirates, but I am afraid of not having enough sponsors.”