On 3 July, after spending eight days at sea, David Williamson and Ben Woodcock became the first kayakers ever to paddle unsupported from Darwin to East Timor. During their record-setting voyage, the pair combatted strong currents as they traversed the Timor Sea, sweating across more than 700km of water.

 “We faced strong winds and large swells, and on top of that had to deal with extended periods of sleep deprivation” says Ben. With the exception of only one stop in the Tiwi Islands, Ben and David (aged 30 and 51 respectively) spent the entire journey aboard their double kayak, eating and sleeping en route, and paddling for up to 24 hours at a time. “The kayak was only 7.3m-long and about 50cm-wide, so it was a really long and narrow space to be in. But when you’re as knackered as we were, you’ll fall asleep anywhere,” says Ben. “We had a cover that zipped up over our heads but there was a constant barrage of water coming, which meant were pretty much always sitting in water.”

Finally reaching Lore, a small community on the south coast of East Timor, was a cherished moment for the exhausted pair. “When we were about 15km from land, we saw the sun rise over Timor. We were so fatigued at that point, having pushed for 24-hours straight, so it was a relief to see dry land,” says Ben. “It was great to pull into the community unannounced and have all the locals run down to help us pull the boat out of the water. We were relieved to have made it and happy that the journey was successful.”

This is the second record the Adelaide-borne paddlers have accomplished. In 2004 they became the first to sea kayak unassisted from New Caledonia to Australia, after spending 20 days paddling across more than 1700km of open ocean. “It’s all about the adventure and the challenge,” says Ben.