Navy rescues ocean rower stranded in Cyclone Alfred

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A Lithuanian rower has been rescued off the Queensland coast after he was caught in a tropical cyclone’s 130km/h winds and monster waves.

Aurimas Mockus ran into trouble about 740km east of Mackay while attempting a 12,000km Pacific Ocean crossing from San Diego to Brisbane in his solo rowing boat.

HMAS Choules, a 16,000-tonne Royal Australian Navy landing ship, rescued Mockus on Monday morning.

He is on his way back to Australian shores after a two-day wait in the turbulent ocean waters due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.

An ocean rowing boat in distress in a rough sea.

Aurimas Mockus’ boat was forced to battle heavy conditions in the Coral Sea. Source: Supplied / Department of Defence

Mockus set off on the journey in October and was days away from reaching his final destination after rowing about 70 nautical miles a day.

He was bracing for the “maximum power” of the cyclone on Thursday, saying he just needed to survive the next two days.

But the waves proved too much when Cyclone Alfred started intensifying in the warm Coral Sea waters to a category two system with constant 95km/h winds and gusts of up to 130km/h.

The system caused swell to grow into multiple metre-high waves, prompting Mockus to activate his emergency beacon late on Friday.

A search and rescue mission started with a Cairns-based Challenger jet sent to find the rower failing to spot Mockus on Saturday, but it did manage to make contact with the tired rower.

AMSA communicated with Mockus via the rescue aircraft through an interpreter on Sunday.

The agency said the rower had not reported any major injuries.

Mockus was trying to join a short list of ocean rowers to make the Pacific crossing solo without stopping.

Brit Peter Bird was the first in 1983, followed by countryman John Beeden in 2015 and Australian Michelle Lee in 2023.

Fellow Australian Tom Robinson, who was attempting to become the youngest to accomplish the feat albeit with a break in the Cook Islands, spent 265 days at sea before he was rescued off Vanuatu in 2023.

The 24-year-old Queenslander’s rowboat capsized, leaving him clinging naked to the hull for about 14 hours before he was rescued by a cruise ship that made a 200km detour.