Rower battles Tasman and loneliness

Transtasman rower Shaun Quincey can see "nothing at all".

He is sitting in his seven-metre boat in the middle of the Tasman, about halfway through his 2450km mission from Australia to New Zealand.

The Auckland adventurer left New South Wales in the Tasman Trespasser II 31 days ago in a bid to become the first person to row solo west to east across the Tasman.

Australian kayaker Andrew McAuley, 39, died during his bid in February 2007. His body was never found.

Quincey's father, Colin, is the only solo rower to have completed the reverse journey from New Zealand to Australia, in his boat Tasman Trespasser in 1977.

Strong winds and an "unlucky" current pushed Shaun Quincey in the wrong direction for 10 days.

Heavy storms have soaked the 25-year-old's blistered hands, ripping them apart.

"The skin is falling off them," he said via satellite phone yesterday. "Both my hands are just so soft and so soggy. It's not very pleasant. I'm not too sure what to do about it."

He is missing bread and milk, and he lost his coffee at sea, but the hardest part is the isolation.

"I'm really, really struggling with being alone and just not having anyone else out here," Quincey said.

"That's definitely the challenge - you wake up and there's no one here to cheer you on."

- AAP