Sealegs Completes Successful First Ever Crossing Of Cook Strait By An Amphibious Vehicle
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Wellington, 29 January 2008: It was third time lucky for Sealegs this morning when it successfully completed the first
crossing of Cook Strait by an amphibious vehicle.
After setting off from Arapawa Island in the Marlborough Sounds at 7.23am Sealegs CEO David McKee-Wright powered the
6.1m Sealegs RIB onto the beach at Owhiro Bay at Wellington in 47minutes and said it was a “faultless crossing.”
Late last year heavy seas forced Sealegs to abandon its initial crossing plans while last Friday (January 25) McKee
Wright was within 300m of the finish at Owhiro Bay when outboard failure further frustrated his record attempt.
“Even though we had larger swells to deal with out in Cook Strait this morning than on Wednesday, everything went like
clockwork, and we managed speeds of up to 50knots,” he says. “We’ve had a lot of messages of support from a number of
New Zealanders and I’d like to thank all those people as well as the many who helped us on our crossing, especially
Evinrude and the Wellington Coastguard”.
“I’m pleased it is finally over and now we can think about our next big event.”
Back in 2005, a Sealegs 5.6m RIB driven by company founder Maurice Bryham staked its place in the Guinness Book of
Records when it shattered the English Channel record mark for an amphibious vehicle completing the 21 nautical miles
from Dover to Calais in 43mins 12secs. This halved the previous record of 1hr 40mins 6secs set a year earlier by UK
entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson.
Caption: Sealegs CEO David McKee Wright and Brendon Hodge come ashore at Owhiro Bay after successfully completing the
Cook Strait crossing this morning.
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