Trans-Atlantic rowers rescued
Boat capsize forces adventurers into liferaftThe four members of an expedition attempting to cross the Atlantic by rowboat have been rescued by the US Coast Guard.
The Expedition was attempting to be the first to row from mainland Africa to Mainland USA. The CWF Africa to the Americas Expedition left on January 23 from Dakar, Senegal to row unassisted across the Atlantic Ocean on a daring 3569 nautical mile journey to Miami, USA.
According to the OAR website the crew was rowing in good conditions when disaster struck:
“Seventy-three days and 2700 nautical miles into a first-ever attempt at a mainland Africa to mainland North America unassisted rowing expedition, weather conditions were finally at their best for rowing. With Jordan and Markus at the oars with perfect tailwinds and following swells, opposing currents created two successive ‘standing waves’ which pitched and rolled the boat into a position that would permanently capsize it for good. Just over 24 hours ago, at 6:50am EDT (April 7), the rescue beacon was activated and the rowers spent the next 6 hours trying to manually right the ocean rowboat. Unsuccessful, they recognised the need to collect supplies in their life raft and hunker down.”
The crew’s PLB signal was picked up by the US Coast Guard in Puerto Rico. A C-130 plane was dispatched to the area, some 400 nautical miles north and made contact with the stricken crew.
After 12 hours in the water, the quartet was picked up by a commercial vessel and transported safely to Puerto Rico.
For more information about the expedition and the rescue go to: http://oarnorthwest.com/
Photo: CWF/Erinn J Hale Photography
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