17 Apr 2015

Kayak world record smashed

8:28 pm on 17 April 2015

A Tauranga man has broken the world record for paddling 24 hours solo in a kayak.

Tim Taylor left Pilot Bay in Tauranga at 8am yesterday and paddled 100 kilometres straight to reach Cathedral Cove before turningaround.

He finished at Papamoa 23 hours after setting out, havIng kayaked 214 kilometres.

The previous record was 194 kilometres.

Mr Taylor said the sea got really rough a couple of times in the night.

"It's quite unstable because it's a racing-type kayak and going through quite sizeable waves when you can't see them was scary, yeah I got really scared and it was really cold as well."