By James Murray with RadioLIVE
Trans-Tasman rower Shaun Quincey has finally reached land, and successfully followed in the footsteps of his father.
The exhausted rower had to swim the last 300m due to rough seas.
He was greeted by his mother who had rushed into the waves to greet her son.
Quincey was surrounded by the media, but was still able to give his girlfriend a hug and a kiss.
For a man that had rowed over 2,200km in over fifty days he looked remarkably chipper and his final swim was done freestyle.
When he got on shore he spoke to a media scrum eager to listen.
“It is one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in my life,” he said.
“It’s been a two year journey to get here. It’s great to be the first person to arrive here and for my dad to have rowed the Tasman in the other direction.”
He then thanked his partner and family for their support.
“They have gone through a heck of a lot as I built the boat and trained,” he said.
Quincey described the swim as “intense, but I think I had to in the end. I hope my baby [his boat] survives coming in.”
There was laughter when one reporter asked if he had got his passport stamped by customs yet.
Quincey replied that he had not been approached by them yet.
Quincey’s girlfriend Lisa Jones earlier said the rower was “tired and hungry”.
Beers a barbeque and a sandwich were among the luxuries he had requested when he reached land.
About 100 well-wishers were gathered on Northland’s 90 Mile Beach to greet the rower, they first spotted Quincey on the horizon at 11:15am.
3 News reporter Jane Luscombe says that waves at the beach near Ahipara, where he landed, were extremely high.
Quincey, 25, reached land at around 12:35pm this afternoon.
His girlfriend Lisa Jones talked to RadioLIVE this morning about the difficulty in getting onshore.
"There's a pretty big swell out here so he's going to be landing near the bluff which is near a group of rocks notorious for having a bigger swell than the rest of 90 Mile [beach] so he's not out of danger at all."
Ms Jones says the rower was concerned that only a few had turned up to see him get in.
“He said who is there just you and the media? I said ‘there’s actually heaps of people here Quincey’.
“I think he thought there would be about five of us here waiting on the beach. But there is certainly a lot more people lined up – so it is going to be a great arrival.”
There had been concern on Friday that a strong current might push him beyond the tip of the North Island but his ground support team say he is now on target.
Earlier today, spokesman Oliver Young said the welcoming party were there to make Quincey's landing special.
“He’s been out there for so long now. He’s just trying to soak it up and recognise his milestone and what he is about to achieve,” said Mr Young.
“He’s looking forward to getting on to land.”
It has been a hair-raising trip - Quincey's 7.3m boat has rolled at least twice, he has broken two oars and he came close to running out of fresh water.
Shaun Quincey is following in the steps of his father, Colin, who rowed across the Tasman in 1977.
Radio Live / 3 News