World records aren’t easily made (trust us, we know personally). Unfortunately, the efforts of Glenn and Lorraine Keating have ended in defeat as the two tried to circumnavigate Australia aboard a pair of well-equipped Yamaha WaveRunners. Although six weeks into their journey, the two decided to call off their attempt after being battered by severe storms north Queensland.
After leaving Sydney Harbour on April 1, the local Sydney residents went on to complete 3500km of their planned 23,000km trek, but found conditions near Cooktown (about 300km north of Cairns) to be far too dangerous to continue on, as high winds and rough seas played a serious toll on the couple. With no relief from the grueling weather in the near future, Glenn announced, “We’ve made the really tough decision that the circumnavigation is over and so is the world record attempt”.
Lorraine added, “It was a really tough decision to make, we’ve been sick over it. But we’re not going to die for it. Being out on the water in 40 knot winds is just ridiculous. We feel like we’re letting people down, but at the end of the day our safety has to be paramount.”
The Keatings had completed only 16 hours of riding before they started the journey, thinking that the world record attempt would be uncharacteristically easy. Their plans were such: arrive in Darwin in June, reaching Perth in July. Then they planned to be in Adelaide and then Melbourne in August before reaching Tasmania in September. Had everything gone according to plan they would return to Sydney in October.
But hasty scheduling, poor planning and again, 16 hours of prior riding experience did not prepare them for what lie ahead. Harsh weather conditions, raging seas, and even getting their 4WD and trailer stuck in the beach’s soft sand (while attempting to launch one day) all proved that the challenge was far more than the Keatings could handle.
Lorraine Keating perfectly summarized their cluelessness when she cried, “When we envisioned doing the trip, [this was what] we had in our mind: beautiful, flat ocean, awesome scenery, gorgeous day. That’s the stuff I signed up for, not that big (sea) rubbish.”