Row the Pacific on honeymoon? Why not

Adventurer Riaan Manser is famous for extreme journeys and his honeymoon is no different.

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Durban - Adventurer Riaan Manser is famous for doing the hard yards on his extreme journeys, so it is perhaps fitting that he is celebrating his honeymoon with a Pacific odyssey that would have done the Polynesians proud.

South African Manser, 43, and his new wife, Vasti Geldenhuys, 38, are rowing from California to Hawaii, giving the newly-weds plenty of time - if not space in their 1.5m boat - to hammer out any differences.

They set out from Monterey, California, on July 15 and already there has been drama - and not of the kitchen sink variety.

On day two of their voyage, their boat, Honeymoon, capsized and Riaan suffered a gash to the head.

"It's been difficult," he said. "We thought we knew what we were doing and when we capsized in the middle of the night I cut my head open, suffered a gash and had to be stitched," he said, speaking to the Daily News from the Pacific by satellite telephone on Thursday.

"Compared to our other journeys, if you ask me which is more scary, it is this one. It is crazy, the waves are even lifting the boat, it's rough and scary," he said.

The couple hope to arrive in Honolulu, Hawaii, within the next two weeks as they make a bid to break the open class pair record for the mid-Pacific, east to west route.

The current record was set by Sami Inkinen and Meredith Loring in 2014, when they completed the journey in 45 days, 3 hours and 43 minutes.

Manser said they were pushing for finishing the course within 41 to 42 days.

"We have done well, we feel physically not in good shape at the moment, we need to take one day off and rejuvenate ourselves. We feel we can do it in 41-42 days, we hope the hurricanes can stay away from us," he said.

"We have been going for eight days straight, we are waiting for a day when the wind and sea will be right and we are thinking by Sunday the conditions might allow us to rest," he said.

If Manser and Geldenhuys manage the feat, it will complement their existing record of being the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean east to west from the African mainland to North America.

They set their trans-Atlantic record in June 2014 after rowing for 172 days on the Spirit of Madiba.

"The journey has been unbelievable, in the morning when we pray and thank God for the privilege, we pray for Him to help us through and appreciate the privilege we have," he said.

So much for spiritual sustenance, but what are the couple eating?

Geldenhuys said they were serving lots of fish, tuna and fish biltong.

She said the journey had been "very beautiful", but said they struggled to get sleep as they had to keep an eye on the boat.

"We have to get up about 50 times in a night to keep an eye out where the boat is going. It's been beautiful, there are very rough seas," said Geldenhuys.

The pair is suffering from some homesickness.

"We are missing the Olympics and everything that's happening with the Springboks," said Manser.

"But this is my life, I love this, I have done bigger journeys than this one, but it is great. We have been married for two months and she does not have to do this, my wife has a real job as an advocate, but we just wanted to do something extreme for us to have fun and boy it is tough," he said.

Apart from his rowing exploits, Manser was the first person to circumnavigate the coast of Africa by bicycle, a distance of 37 000km, through 34 countries over two years and two months.

In July 2009 he became the first person to kayak 5 000km around Madagascar alone.

sihle.mlambo@inl.co.za

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