44-year-old adventurer, Cyril Derreumaux had to be rescued during an attempt to break the world record by kayaking 2,400 miles from San Francisco to Honolulu in 64 days had to be rescued because of a violent storm.
A man was lifted from his kayak by a US Coast Guard helicopter Saturday night after making it just five days into a planned 64-day solo trip from California to Hawaii.
Cyril Derreumaux, 44, departed from Sausalito, four miles north of San Francisco, on May 31 with a goal of reaching Honolulu by August 3 to break the world record for the impressive 2,400-mile journey.
News of the Frenchman’s attempt made it far and wide, appearing in papers all over the world.
But by June 2 – just two days into his trip – Derreumaux was forced to anchor his kayak and hunker down in his cabin as rough winds and powerful waves that were ‘crashing’ on top of his vessel left him seasick.
‘I paddled non stop for 7 hours and am super tired,’ the French-born ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘motivational speaker’ said in an update.
‘Still a bit weak from yesterday’s sea sickness so can’t eat much. Forcing myself. Wind is increasing tonight and stronger and stronger until Saturday.’
That’s when his trip came to a premature end.
His ground team lost track of him, his anchor was damaged, and he found himself ‘violently tossed from side to side, along with all the equipment that was stored in the cabin,’ he said in a statement posted to social media after his rescue.
Losing his anchor amid winds projected to reach 45 knots made it clear he had to call it quits on his odyssey, which he had prepped for for three years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
A crew of Coast Guardsmen was deployed via helicopter and a diver was lowered into the water to pull Derreumaux to safety. They landed at the San Francisco International Airport on Saturday night.
The father-of-two made it 60 nautical miles, slightly less than 70 land miles, into the 2,400-mile trip.
But Derreumaux, whose boat remains adrift in the Pacific Ocean, remains undeterred.
‘If it looks like I can go in the next three weeks, then I’ll do it,’ he said. ‘But I’ll be assessing the stress I put on my family and particularly my girlfriend. It might be too much to take off again this year.’
Derreumaux moved to the United States from a ‘rural French village’ at 18 for an exchange program, according to his website.
He took up paddling in 2009. In 2016, he participated in the second Great Pacific Race, where he and a team rowed from San Francisco to Waikiki, Hawaii in 39 days.
Some of his rowing buddies had warned of the precariousness of his trip before he left.
‘He’s stepping off into the abyss,’ said Carter Johnson, Derreumaux’s friend and the world record-holder for long distance paddling.
In September, rower Lia Ditton successfully completed a solo trip from San Francisco to Hawaii in 86 days, beating Roz Savage’s 2008 record of 100 days.
At least Derreumaux was not alone while he braved the high seas. Read more from DM
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