Daphne The Giant Inflatable Duck Found After A Harrowing Week At Sea

I urge you to stop panicking: Daphne the ginormous inflatable duck has been found alive* and well off the coast of Western Australia a week after a strong breeze swept her out to sea.

The $900 duck was carried off by a particularly enthusiastic easterly wind as organisers were setting up for the annual Coogee Jetty to Jetty Swim.

Cockburn Masters Swimming Club president Peter Marr told ABC Radio that he tried to go after but just couldn’t manage it:

I probably overestimated my ability and underestimated Daphne’s hunger for freedom and she just bolted.

After what I’m sure was a very harrowing wake at sea, though, it appears that Daphne has made her way back to land:

If this photo of her being towed back to land is anything to go by, she had quite an ordeal:


Pictured: Windswept and interesting. (Source: Facebook / Coogee Jetty to Jetty Swim XXII)

Marr told the New York Times that Daphne had been found by a fisherman some 30 to 40 kilometres west of Rottnest Island. The NYT article notes that “the fisherman who found Daphne posted a ransom for the duck“, which is an extremely intriguing thing to mention casually, but that Marr found the guy to be a “reasonable bloke” and believed the exchange would be amicable.

Welcome back, Daphne.

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