Herald and supplies dropped to rower

Shaun Quincey. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Transtasman rower Shaun Quincey had drinking water and two copies of the Herald dropped to him yesterday.

Quincey has been 42 days on the water, trying to become the first solo rower to complete the voyage between Australia and New Zealand.

A shortage of drinking water threatened to scupper his bid until Taupo rescue pilot John Funnell came to his rescue.

He flew a fixed wing aircraft on a nine-hour round trip from Taupo with emergency provisions including 38 litres of drinking water, coffee, two Heralds and a toothbrush.

Quincey had been in radio contact with them after the drop and was "delighted with it", said Mr Funnell. "He said to us 'You guys don't know what this means to me."'

The provisions were parachuted to Quincey, who was able to pick them up quickly from the sea. Mr Funnell said the sea conditions were good.

Last week, Quincey's desalination machine broke down and he has twice capsized.

He was running dangerously low on water, with only four litres left. He said it was critical for supplies to be dropped to him if he was going to finish the mission.

Quincey left Australia on January 20. He guessed he had about 20 or 30 days of rowing ahead of him before making landfall on the Taranaki coast.

- NZPA, staff reporter