Two students set out to face one of the world’s last remaining open sea challenges yesterday - kayaking across the treacherous Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

No kayaker has ever completed the journey of more than 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles), with most being beaten back within days of starting out.

Andrew McAuley, a 39-year-old Tasmanian, nearly became the first when he got to within 70km of New Zealand in February. But he disappeared before he could make landfall. His empty boat was found later, but his body was never recovered.

Nine months after McAuley’s disappearance the adventurers James Castrission, 25, and Justin Jones, 24, set out from Foster, north of Sydney, for Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. They are attempting the crossing in a specially designed kayak.

The pair believe that travelling together in a custom-designed boat will give them an “inherent level of safety” that McAuley did not enjoy. Their trip is expected to take between four and six weeks.

They are attempting their Tasman crossing well north of the route chosen by McAuley, who paddled below the 40th parallel – a region well known for its punishing weather. Aside from the sapping storms and gales that McAuley endured on his shorter southern route, the waters off Tasmania are nearly ten degrees colder than off the mainland north of Sydney from where Mr Jones and Mr Castrission set out.

“Obviously, it’s a very tragic thing that happened with McAuley,” Mr Jones said. “He was an amazing adventurer, but we’ve tried to learn as much as possible from that experience and also we’re taking a vastly different approach to the way he did it. There’s been a range of emotions, but I’m just keen to get out there; really keen to get out there.”

The pair will keep in touch with their base by satellite phone and a beacon on board will transmit their whereabouts every six minutes.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Over the Wall
• Why Africa welcomes the ‘new colonialism’
• Which will come out on top: paper or gold?