Tasman-crossing kayaker Scott Donaldson forced to wait out lightning storm

Scott Donaldson's efforts have been hampered by an aggressive shark, and now a lightning storm. Photo / Supplied

Two weeks ago it was a shark, now it's a lightning storm slowing the progress of Tasman kayaker Scott Donaldson, albeit briefly.

Donaldson now lies about 700km to the northwest of Taranaki, as he tries to be the first person to kayak the Tasman Sea solo.

Weather conditions have been favourable for Donaldson's world record attempt, until Saturday morning, when a fierce lightning storm struck his area at 7am.

Donaldson's kayak and paddle are made of carbon fibre – an excellent conductor of electricity, so he was forced to wait out the storm.

Late last month, Donaldson had an unpleasant encounter with an aggressive shark.

"He had a 2.5m shark chasing him the other day trying to bite the rudder," his wife, Sarah Donaldson, said.

"Scott would stop paddling and the shark backed off but then once he resumed paddling, the shark would chase him again. The rudder is intact thank goodness."

Donaldson's team leader, Nigel Escott, said the kayaker has made incredible progress this week, despite the forced stoppage this morning.

"He's done really well this week. The conditions are great, he's in a good current and there is a tail wind, so he's 'making hay while the sun shines'.

"The only thing that has slowed him was to wait out the lightning storm and to not be moving his paddle through the air."

In a 24-hour period from Friday to Saturday this week he covered a distance of 85km.

"The conditions are so good at the moment that he's actually paddling for up to 20 hours a day. Even paddling at night on occasion," Escott said.

Earlier in the week, Donaldson endured a run of bad weather and an unfavourable current pattern, which meant he had to backtrack and do a full circle.

Donaldson left Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales coast on May 2 and made it to Lord Howe Island in 10 days – a distance of 586km. Waiting out a storm for seven days, he resumed his journey to New Zealand on May 18, which means he has been at sea now for nearly a month.

Donaldson is aiming to make landfall on the Taranaki coast – a distance of 2200km although he will likely paddle 3000km.

With his transtasman kayak attempt, Donaldson is raising funds for asthma research. Donaldson himself is an asthma sufferer.

Donations can be made via Givealittle.