The four kayakers had paddled about 12 miles from St. Maarten on their way to Virgin Islands waters when seasickness struck one of them.
“Horrendous seasickness,” said Michael Houston, the leader of a team of four United Kingdom university students known as the KX Kayakers.
The men, who are raising money for cancer-related charities by kayaking in two tandem kayaks from Grenada to Puerto Rico, had left St. Maarten on Aug. 3 about three hours before team member Edmund Magnus’ seasickness became too much to handle.
Despite being a man down, the team decided to press on with their trek to the VI, paddling 33 hours straight to Necker Island.
But by the time they were 35 miles away from the VI, help came the next morning in the form of a helicopter dispatched from Necker Island, where one kayaker’s brother was staying.
Aboard the helicopter, sent by Necker owner Sir Richard Branson, was Lochie Dewar, a team member’s brothers, who helped paddle the rest of the way to Necker Island. After recuperating here, the kayakers continued their journey, which they are recording on their blog.
See the Aug. 15, 2013 edition for full coverage.
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