Tasman 2025 Success!! Arrived & Survived

Written for Grant and Luke by John Mitchell, Project Manager

Grant and Luke have battled the Tasman’s sea gods into submission.

The final route taken from New Zealand to Australia

Ernie had a safety boat arranged to escort then into the berth (but not to assist). He managed to take a couple to photos while they were on their approach to Coffs Harbour.

On the final approach to Coffs. Two up rowing fighting the winds right to the end.

My first sighting of the boys was on the Coffs Harbour webcam around 18:20 NZDT

Coffs Harbour webcam. The Pavlova and safety boat to the far left

They rowed into Coffs Harbour and tied up along side at approx 1845 NZDT 28th March (1645 AEDT) 22 days 4 hours 40 minutes after leaving New Zealand.

Arriving in Coffs Harbour, cleared to land , celebration and then Pavlova out of the water.

This is roughly 9 days faster than the next best crossing, by a team of 4 Australian rowers who rowed the Tasman in 31 days in 2007.

Grant & Luke now hold the record for the fastest crossing of the Tasman under human power. Amazing effort guys!

Two very happy & successful transTasman rowers


Comments

54 responses to “Tasman 2025 Success!! Arrived & Survived”

  1. Karyn Blake Avatar
    Karyn Blake

    Wow what a huge effort congratulations…..

    Like

  2. Brilliant news, guys!
    Axe, congratulations on achieving your goal and for never giving up on your dream to accomplish this feat!
    Respect!
    Andrew Vine

    Like

  3. awesome ….you guys rocked the boat ..🚣‍♂️🚣‍♂️🚣‍♂️🚣‍♂️💪💪💪💪

    Like

  4. James Crosbie Avatar
    James Crosbie

    Awesome bro!! Wh

    Like

  5. verybluebird4f39508b9b Avatar
    verybluebird4f39508b9b

    Astonishing and amazing. Love the story all the way through these last few days and years. Congratulations to both of you. Windy.

    Like

  6. ABSOLUTELY EPIC.
    Ma ta Wa from Red

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  7. Thanks all for following the adventure and your comments. I’ll leave it to Grant to respond once he’s had a good night’s sleep, John

    Like

  8. Marilyn Rawlinson Avatar
    Marilyn Rawlinson

    Wow amazing feat. Congratulations, well done 🎇🎊🎉🎆

    Like

  9. Josh Bates Avatar
    Josh Bates

    This must be your proudest achievement. Very happy for you.

    Like

    1. Not as proud as playing that game with you in Singapore but yeah pretty proud mate

      Like

  10. Huge congratulations to you both and your team who supported you. We’ve enjoyed following your journey. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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  11. fantastic news. Well done, and what an achievement.

    Like

  12. Rob van Woudenberg Avatar
    Rob van Woudenberg

    Congratulations from The Netherlands what an achievement.

    Verzonden vanaf Outlook voor Androidhttps://aka.ms/AAb9ysg


    Like

  13. Helen’s mates A&C Avatar
    Helen’s mates A&C

    crazy activity and crazy amazing feat – well done

    Like

  14. Ian Bellhouse Avatar
    Ian Bellhouse

    OAR-SOME effort you total legends!!! 🤩🤩 🥳🥂😎

    Like

  15. Bill Hone Avatar
    Bill Hone

    Well done Grant & team. fantastic achievement! Are you turning around and rowing back? 😉

    Like

    1. Thanks Bill, no but the weather favored that that day we arrived!

      Like

  16. Sue Bunce Avatar
    Sue Bunce

    That is totally amazing. I’m so glad you finally achieved this after the difficulties of the previous attempts. Now in hindsight, they provided the lessons and knowledge to make this one appear pretty straightforward in comparison. I know that’s not reality though. Just amazing your perseverance to not give up on achieving this dream. Congratulations to both of you.

    Hope there will be some sort of New Zealand speaking event get together to celebrate in due course. Well done 👏💪🙌🇳🇿

    Like

    1. Hello Sue, not sure about speaking events in nz yet but thanks for your comments! We got very very lucky with a three week weather window on this trip which helped a lot!

      Like

  17. Donald Sutherland Avatar
    Donald Sutherland

    Congrats Guys, and well done!!
    best
    Rob and Liz Sutherland

    Like

    1. Thank you Rob and Liz!

      Like

  18. Iain You g Avatar
    Iain You g

    A massive well done to you both – and a record to boot! Superb stuff. Enjoy being back on land and a huge ✋ Youngie

    Like

    1. Thanks Youngie hope you are well mate

      Like

      1. Iain Young Avatar
        Iain Young

        Cheers Axe – exhausted but proud I imagine ! When you get a mo can you change my contact details to iainlmyoung@gmail.com. The previous messages and updates were going to my work address.

        thanks and hope to catch up when you are back

        Like

  19. WILLIAM Stuart Avatar
    WILLIAM Stuart

    Well done guys, fantastic achievement. Bill Stuart

    Like

    1. Thanks Bill lovely to hear from you!

      Like

  20. Diane Soffe Avatar
    Diane Soffe

    What a lesson in resilience, persistence and every other vital life skill. We need you to do a speaking tour of our schools. Congratulations to you and the entire team.

    Like

    1. That would be fun Diane! Thank you for your message

      Like

  21. Denis Lobb Avatar
    Denis Lobb

    Congratulations Grant and Luke. Well done, and a very fast crossing. Having crossed the Tasman twice the easy way ( under sail ) we well appreciate the perseverence, dedication and fortitude it would take to row across. From Denis and Maureen Lobb. New Plymouth

    Like

    1. Thanks Denis you know better than anyone what the Tasman is like! When she is in a good mood life is good / but…..!!

      Like

  22. Amazing stuff, Axe. An incredible achievement after years of hard work. I’m so glad you managed to find somewhere safe to land – I was worried you might have to turn around and row back again 😉

    Like

  23. Amazing and congrats!

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  24. Amazing, congrats, I am inspired!

    Like

  25. kerryn carter Avatar
    kerryn carter

    Congratulations
    Kerryn Carter
    Nga mihi nui

    Like

  26. kerryn carter Avatar
    kerryn carter

    Congratulations. Huge achievement.

    Kerryn Carter
    Nga mihi nui

    Like

  27. Amazing Grant!! You are proving again and again – “ nothing is impossible”. And you and your team is a perfect source of inspiration. Keep going mate!!

    Like

  28. Brett Haine Avatar
    Brett Haine

    Some of the Haine’s have been following your progress. Extremely well done buddy and we are all glad you made it safely.

    Brett Haine

    Like

  29. Debbie Cummings Avatar
    Debbie Cummings

    congratulations to you both!! We met in Eden when we helped get your boat out of the water a few years back and had the pleasure of meeting Luke in Hobart back in January. Rest, relax and be proud of what you have achieved!! Ron and Deb Cummings from Eden

    Like

    1. Hi Debbie! Thanks for your lovely message!

      Like

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