Adventurer of the Year 2014

By AG STAFF October 27, 2014
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Jason Beachcroft has been awarded the 2014 Adventurer of the Year for paddling around Australia.

Until recently, mainland Australia has been circumnavigated by kayak only three times – by paddling legend Paul Caffyn in 1982, then by Freya Hoffmeister in 2009 and Stuart Trueman in 2011.

But on 28 June 2014, 45-year-old Jason Beachcroft cruised into Sydney Harbour’s Rose Bay 17 months and 18,000km after paddling out from the same location.

In doing so, he became the first person to kayak around Australia, incorporating Tasmania into the route. During Jason negotiated two crossings of Bass Strait; a huge kayaking achievement in its own right, let alone twice. And unlike the other circumnavigations, his was largely unsupported, except for occasional food drops.