33 day journey ends in a golden sunset
The send-off was official and unusual.
Just before sea-kayaker Sandy Robson paddled across the Palk Straits to the Indian coast from Talaimannar on May 1, to stamp the ‘exit’ on her papers were Immigration officials who had come all the way from the department’s unit at Norochcholai in Puttalam.
Not only were they in uniform but they were also armed with a special stamp, says Sandy, pointing out that it was because she was the first to exit from Talaimannar after several decades.
Sandy on the waters of Negombo. Pix courtesy of Nick Hart
The 30-decade conflict in the north and east had effectively put-paid to the ferry service which used to operate from Talaimannar to Rameshwaram in India.
“I’m also the first to cross the Palk Straits to India in a kayak since 1935,” says Sandy who is Australian. The other was German Oskar Speck whose train from Germany to Australia she is following.
Sandy has also clocked another first — the paddling journey around the tear-drop shaped island of Sri Lanka is a world record. Sandy who is the first person to circumnavigate Sri Lanka by kayak, has paddled a distance of 1,235.3km around the country taking a total 33 days and completing her ‘circling’ which began at Talaimannar, at that point itself on April 24.
“I’m waterproof,” was the quip by Sandy when asked by the Sunday Times whether her plans to leave Sri Lanka’s north by kayak would be affected by the heavy rains lashing the country these days.
With regard to her paddling journey around Sri Lanka, her emotions are poignant. “My efforts were rewarded by kindness from
Sandy at Talaimannar with Marc and business partner Manojo
strangers, laughter with new friends, golden sunrises and sunsets and unique experiences,” Sandy told the Sunday Times in an e-mail just before her departure, adding that the friendship, encouragement and support she received “was truly wonderful and I would like to take them with me the rest of the way to Australia!”
The Sunday Times which kept in touch with her by SMS and e-mail after Vakarai, ran her story headlined ‘Paddling solo halfway across the world’ in its Magazine on April 20.
Beginning her journey in her kayak from Ulm in Germany, along the river Danube in May 2011, she is hoping to reach the “finish” line of her expedition, Australia, in 2016. Her next lap is the east coast of India.
Referring to her round-trip of Sri Lanka, Sandy extends “my huge thanks” to the Sri Lanka Navy and Defence Ministry, for making it possible and for their amazing support as she paddled, logging-in each day with Navy Headquarters.
Another group which “tracked” her daily progress and made themselves available to assist with problems, in fact her very lifeline, were her sponsors particularly Marc Pelle and the teams from both Hotel Pearl in Negombo and Adam’s Bridge Resort in Talaimannar, she explains, extending “huge thanks” to them as well.
“They welcomed me to Sri Lanka, drove me to the start and organised an unforgettable landing ceremony. These kinds of sponsors and supporters are my lotto win in life and I will treasure the experiences we shared,” she says.
“Paddling under my own steam around an entire country has given me insights and privileges that the tourists in five-star hotels will never experience,” according to Sandy, who particularly loved the north and east coast of Sri Lanka for its more remote locations and places where one can be immersed in the natural world.
“There were many treasured places like the coral cottages near Vakarai. My favourite camping site was at Lanka Patuna where the setting sun and the sounds of the temple along with the view down a vast stretch of coast makes you reflect on the beauty of nature and the energy you can feel with time spent immersed in such places,” she says.
A “milestone” in her trip had been rounding Point Pedro and passing the northern tip of the country, with the people peering through fences to look at the foreigner. “These were novelties for me because you don’t get that in the hotel-laden south.”
It had been Jaffna Lagoon though that really got Sandy thinking………“It is a maze of shallow water and fishing nets and someone out there probably has a map of that place in their head but for me I was looking on Google Earth on my phone to try to navigate through. The fishermen were amazed. I was there and friendly and the water was the most beautiful of any place I saw in the dawn light. It was hard to see where the sky finished and the water began and there were numerous birds to observe. I slowed down and enjoyed the maze, and the hours to find my way through became a pleasure. Sometimes I could paddle and sometimes I had to drag the kayak through shallow places which was hard, but fun too.”
On the final day, as Sandy neared Talaimannar escorted by the Navy, it was a fitting finale that awaited her as she set the world record — a welcoming ceremony where most of the people from the small fishing village cheered her onto the shore. (KH)