An Irishman calling himself “the naked adventurer” has been rescued off the coast of Australia during his attempt to be the youngest man, and first Irishman, to row solo across the Indian Ocean.
Keith Whelan (29) - who rows in the nude to avoid painful chafing from salt crusts that build up on clothing - got into difficulty late last night when a large wave hit his vessel and threw him across his sleeping cabin, cutting his head on a bolt.
He managed to treat himself to stop the bleeding before using a satellite phone to contact a friend in the UK, who alerted the Australian authorities.
At 200km offshore, the vessel was beyond the reach of the local coastguard search and rescue. Perth water police issued an alert and diverted the nearby Japanese cargo ship Fujisuka to pick him up. A GPS location tracker on Mr Whelan's website shows the boat about 150km from the town of Kalbarri on Australia's western coast. The boat was lifted on to the cargo ship, and was damaged slightly in the process.
The Fujisuka is now heading for land, where Mr Whelan will receive medical treatment.
“Worst 48 hours imaginable but I am fine,” Mr Whelan posted on his Facebook page today. “Gutted is not the word for how I feel right now. But happy to be in one piece.”
Mr Whelan, a freelance events manager from Athy, Co Kildare, is attempting to cross the Indian Ocean – about 6000km – alone, in a journey that was scheduled to take three and a half months. He is trying to raise funds for the Keep a Child Alive charity, which provides anti-retroviral treatment and support to children and families affected by HIV/Aids in Africa and India.
Mr Whelan's spokeswoman said he will likely need up to 15 stitches but it was unclear whether he would be able to immediately take up the challenge again. "Knowing Keith, I'd imagine he won't let this deter him, and he'll keep going," she said. "If he has to abandon it will be because of damage to his boat and not to him," she said. "I don't know what condition the boat is in, but that's what it will all come down to."
Surviving on ration packs and burning up to 10,000 calories each day rowing, Mr Whelan was making the journey completely unsupported. His journey began on the May 7th and has been hampered by bad weather conditions since. He was forced him to spend some time on the Abrohlos Islands, from where he departed on June 4th.
His boat is only 7m long, and his sleeping cabin, in which he took refuge from a storm when the accident took place, is only 2m long and 1m tall. The boat is designed to upright itself automatically in the event it is capsized in a storm. He was protecting himself from the elements with sun block and by sitting on a sheepskin rug.