Pedalling duo suffers setback
Strong winds and heavy seas forced local adventurer, Davey du Plessis and his mother, Robyn Wolff to abandon their awareness trip across the Atlantic ocean.
THE Extinction Six awareness campaign by La Lucia resident, Robyn Wolff (50) and her son, Davey du Plessis (27), was cut short after only two days at sea.
The mother-son duo planned to pedal 6 500 kilometers from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro in a small pedal boat to raise awareness surrounding the ‘destruction of the planet’s species’.
The duo set off on their grand adventure on Friday last week, however, strong winds and heavy seas forced them to throw in the towel on Sunday evening. Wolff had also suffered from chronic sea sickness.
At one point Du Plessis noted strong winds of 40 knots and sea swells measuring four to six meters.
Eight hours into the trip the exhausted twosome deployed the anchor to regain some strength. This, however, left them at the full mercy of the wind, which blew them westward and then later north. With the unrelenting weather conditions they remained anchored for the rest of the night as well as the following day – causing them to drift off course.
At this stage, unbeknownst to Du Plessis and his mother rescue efforts had been deployed by the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) duo to a lack of communication from the adventurers.
On his Facebook page Du Plessis wrote, “I had been very preoccupied with managing the boat and had neglected updates to home, as I assumed the live tracking device would be sufficiennt.”
“I was completely oblivious to any rescue efforts, as my mom and I lay hunkered in the boat waiting to see what the weather did, not feeling the need for rescue as we felt safe in the boat – uncomfortable, but safe. Never did it feel like a life threatening situation, so there was no need for a rescue,” he added.
Du Plessis, however, wasn’t defeated by the setback, saying, “The reality is that with these adventures, especially if it’s something that hasn’t been done before, there are going to be challenges. Fortunately I have pulled some vital information from this experience, and can now make some adjustments.”
The duo now hopes to re-embark on the mission at the end of the year.
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