Visakhapatnam: Sandy Robson of Australia is no ordinary adventurer. She is 47 and is on her way to creating a kayaking world record by taking up the tough challenge of kayaking her way from Germany to Australia.
Robson is retracing a historic journey which Osker Speck of Germany undertook in 1932 and finished in seven years. She plans to finish the same in five years and is currently on stage three of her journey, paddling through the East Coast. She reached Vizag on Tuesday. Her journey along the Indian East Coast has not been as pleasant as it was through Europe or the West Coast of India.
While Robson was paddling along AP coast near Nellore, fishermen attacked her mistaking her to be a terrorist. They ran over her kayak with their boat, broke it and looted her stuff. Battling odds and standing true to sportsman spirit, she faced the attacks and with the help of AP police, she continued her journey.
She now gets police protection wherever she lands in AP. Robson said, “I was attacked many times along the AP coast, which left me feeling scared. But I understand that the fishermen were just skeptical and they panicked. Later, we spoke and I left on good terms.”
Robson’s spirit is unbroken by such incidents and she is all praise for India. She said, “This journey gave me an opportunity to see India through a different lens. People here are warm and welcoming everywhere, even in AP. I felt safe wherever I landed. Before I started my journey, people told me waters in India would be dirty and filthy which was not at all true as I paddled across some of the most beautiful stretches of blue waters in India.”
While paddling across Sri Lanka, the 47-year-old had to kayak her way once continuously for 22 hours, covering 109 km. Robson paddles an average of 45 km a day and lodges on shore about once a week to collect ration, food and drinking water.
