Annabel Anderson Becomes First Woman To Paddle Cook Straight

Kiwi paddle sensation, Annabel Anderson has become the first woman to paddle board across the Cook Straight - the path connecting the North and South islands of New Zealand. She battled high-seas, tidal surges and hours of hard work to set a new record.

In a breaking news report by 3news.co.nz, Anderson said in a post-paddle interview that the straight "is such a gnarly piece of water. I knew it was going to be really tough but the Cook Strait definitely tried to throw a bit of everything at me this morning, that's for sure."

"As I was driving up from Christchurch and the news of the Chile earthquake came through and [possible] tidal surges I was thinking 'oh my goodness, this really could spice things up tomorrow'."

"I said hello to the ocean a couple of times. There's some massive whirlpools out there where the tide's doing one thing, the wind's doing one thing, and it's just swirling in massive circles."

It took Anderson three hours and 56 minutes to reach Wellington in three hours and 56 minutes. "The North Island just didn't get any closer for quite a little bit towards the end and then all of a sudden I got spat out of this band of current and I was thinking, 'okay we're getting closer and we're actually moving'."

On behalf of Supconnect, we'd like to congratulate her on this awesome achievement.