Stranded in Tahiti, man sails solo for 26 days to reach home
A man has sailed for 26 days, some 6,000km to return to his home after being stranded by covid restrictions.
Briton Paul Stratfold took on an epic solo sail to reach Queensland, Australia, after being stranded in Tahiti for 18 months due to the pandemic. Stratfold had been unable to return to his home in Australia due to covid restrictions. With no flights available, and time running out for Stratfold to renew his residency visa in Australia, he took the decision to sail across the Southern Pacific to get back to his home.
Stratfold spent almost a month sailing a 50ft sail boat nonstop from Tahiti and made landfall after 26 days of isolation on the boat. Upon arriving in Australia after 26 days at sea, the Briton still had to complete 14 days of hotel quarantine.
“It was the only way I could get home,” he said in an interview upon his return.
According to Bloomberg, Stratfold reached Southport in Queensland on 3 July. Strafold is one of several stories emerging of those stranded in foreign destinations taking matters into their own hands to return home.
