‘Like a cat in a washing machine’: rescued rower feared he would die in Cyclone Alfred’s monster waves

Aurimas Mockus feared for his life after running into trouble about 740km east of Mackay while attempting a 12,000km Pacific Ocean crossing from San Diego to Brisbane in his solo rowing boat.
Photograph: James Gourley/The Guardian

Aurimas Mockus finally made it to Australia, but not in the manner he imagined.

Instead of triumphantly paddling in on the Kursis, the one-seater boat he’d been rowing for nearly five months across the Pacific Ocean as part of a solo mission from San Diego to Brisbane, he arrived in Sydney Harbour, relieved and alive, onboard a 16,000 tonne Australian naval ship.