Cape Town - It has been five weeks since a determined Capetonian, Richard Kohler, 53, embarked on his solo journey, paddling a kayak from Granger Bay crossing to Brazil and reaching the halfway mark.
Kohler’s journey began with him travelling north, along South Africa’s west coast paddling his kayak named Osiyeza – “The Crossing” (named after Johnny Clegg’s famous song).
Giving it a second attempt, Kohler looked past his December 2021 failure, where he was forced to make a detour to Walvis Bay after being out at sea for more than two weeks.
This was due to corrosion in his solar panel wiring, restricting him from charging on board batteries, which would have seriously compromised his safety.
Determined to beat the odds, Kohler has fearlessly stayed the course and has been at the sea alone and supported for more than 30 days.
He has been making great progress, clocking approximately 100km a day.
“During the first week of big seas and high winds even I was doubting my sanity of taking on this task of kayaking across the South Atlantic Ocean.
“It is now a month that I have been at sea, without face-to-face human interaction, being constantly tossed about and waves breaking over me. The physical strain of paddling 12 hours a day has all become part of my daily life.
“Reaching the halfway mark raises my spirits, but I am all too aware that it is still a very long way to (go) and with mother nature in charge anything can still happen. I am going into the second half without complacency and with a dash of hope,” he said.
Despite the bad weather conditions, this elderly man managed to stay on board and within three weeks into his journey he turned Osiyeza west to position himself into the trade winds, which will help him towards the shores of Salvador in Brazil.
It is estimated that Kohler will reach Salvador in approximately 30 days on February 22 or 24.
Kohler is raising funds for Operation Smile. Like his journey, he is almost halfway to his goal and has already raised over R214 000 for the charity which works globally to give children born with cleft lip and palate, safe, transformative surgery.
His aim is to raise enough money for 70 life-changing cleft lip and palate operations, giving 70 children new smiles. So far he is up to 39 smiles.