Solo rower found dead

Press, 23 April 1979, Page 1

Solo rower found dead

PA Auckland A man found dead in an Auckland suburban house on Friday night has been identified as Anders Svedlund, aged 51. Mr Sve lund achieved international fame for two marathon solo rows across thousands of miles of ocean. In the first, in 1971, he rowed a 21ft boat 4400 miles across the Indian Ocean from Western Australia to Madagascar and in the second, in 1974, he rowed 6000 miles from Chile to Western Samoa. Mr Svedlund, was bom in Sweden, but was a naturalised New Zealander at the time of his exploits. His body was found sprawled in a pool of biood and the police at first thought he may have

been shot. But, after the body was moved and a post-mortem examination carried out, it was establish that he died after he fell and struck his head on the side of a table. In 1969. Mr Svedlund made an unsuccessful attempt to row across the Tasman from New Zealand to Australia. Four day* after , leaving Onehunga, his boat capsized west of the Manukau heads. In the Indian Ocean row he was at sea for almost three months. When he set out he took with him four pairs of oars, 50 gallons of drinking water, a desalination plant, and a supply of food and fishing gear. Mr Svedlund’s row from Chile to Western Samoa took almost a year to complete.