Disabled man kayaks across Cook Strait

A one-elbowed man last week became the first disabled kayaker to paddle across Cook Strait.

Rikki Johnson, 38, covered the 30-odd kilometres in four hours, eight minutes and 51 seconds.

A crash involving a drunk-driver in 1990 left Mr Johnson, of Maungaturoto, Northland, with 60 per cent mobility in his right arm, which has no elbow.

With limited strength and movement, and no modifications to his kayak, he can't explain how he avoids going round in circles.

"If the doctors could give me the answer to that, they would," Mr Johnson said.

It is his second Cook Strait kayak: The first was as an able-bodied man in a 1988 fundraiser. This time around, the solo father said his kids are especially thrilled.

"They're pretty stunned. And proud - proud of their dad."

Mr Johnson trained for three months at the Kaiwaka gym and on the Kaipara Harbour. The V8 fanatic and vehicle recovery driver admits there is a vast difference between the harbour and Cook Strait, where notorious tides running against the wind dished up white caps and metre- high swells.

"You don't normally get a 30-knot northerly on the Kaipara."

A "good old Cook Strait gale" brought forward the crossing by a few hours and caused a last-minute direction reversal: He paddled from Ohau Point on the Wellington side of the strait to the entrance of the Tory Channel in the Marlborough Sounds.

His paddle hit something 20km into the trip, possibly a whale. "At least I hope it was," he said. "That sent a shiver down my spine."

Bitten by the kayaking bug after his first crossing in 1988, Mr Johnson is planning to tackle Southland's Foveaux Strait at end of the year, the English Channel early next year, and Bass Strait later in 2007.

"I'm not a 'won't' person," he said.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)