The Sea Decides

If I was going to use one word for the Tasman, I’d say it was cruel. The waves, they just keep coming, they’re endless, they’re like bullies ... Cold water. Sharks. Violent seas. I asked myself the question a number of times – ‘What the hell am I doing out here?'

– Adventurer Grant Rawlinson

It’s a tough little piece of ocean. If you’re rowing, a fast trip will be 30 or something days and a slow trip will be 60 or 90 days. Over that period of time, at some stage in that traversing, you’re going to get the s–– kicked out of you. You cannot, cannot, cannot escape it over that period of time without getting something nasty.

– Expedition meteorologist Roger Badham on the conditions of the Tasman Sea

It's not about instant gratification. It's about finding a purpose in life ... Because finding your purpose and following it, you know, it's an inner sense of peace. Purpose is that internal, intrinsic feeling – that sense of satisfaction – that sense of calm – when you know you're doing something in life that you were absolutely meant to do.

– Grant Rawlinson on his reasons for being an adventurer

You can plan everything and look at all the charts, and all the weather, but ultimately the sea decides whether they’re going to allow you to trespass, allow you to cross or not.

– Colin Quincey (the first person to row across the Tasman Sea) on the role of the weather in crossing the Tasman Sea