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Saturday 14th June 2008. Concern
was raised for the four crew aboard the 29 foot Atlantic Ocean
rowing Boat 'Scilly Boys' after Falmouth Coastguard received
a iridium call at 01:00am BST from one of the crew members. The call
indicated that the boat had capsized, 420 nautical miles east of
Cape Cod and all four crew were in the two cabins.
Chris Jenkins, Tim Garrent, Wayne Davey and Joby Newton were
attempting to row across the North Atlantic from New York, United
States of America to the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom (3,100
nautical miles). The team had left Liberty Landing Marina on the 1
June 2008 in a bid to break the longest standing ocean rowing record
set in 1896 by Harboe and Samuelson of 55 days.
The United States Coast Guard, Norfolk, Virginia Rescue Coordination
Centre, coordinated the search, a tanker 'Gulf Grace' was diverted to the rowing boats last known position and a search
aircraft (Hercules) was scrambled to assist in the search.
James Instance, Watch Manager, Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination
Centre, says:
"We have been assisting the US Coast Guard in any way that we can.
We were anxious to receive a position update for the boat as we last
spoke with the crew at 01:00am and requested that they should
activate their beacon, which we picked up only once at 02:20am. The
weather conditions on scene were north north-east winds 7 - 8 with a
3 -4 metre seas and poor visibility. |
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The Crew were located by the aircraft and taken aboard the
'Gulf
Grace' at 08:00am - we understand all four are relatively safe and
well - suffering slight hypothermia."
Simon Chalk, Woodvale Challenge Ltd, comments:
'We are hugely relieved that the guys have been rescued and are safe
and well, so many thousands of people from around the world have
watched their epic challenge and will share in our sadness that
their voyage has been cut short'
Euan Roger on behalf of key sponsor Tresco Estate, comments:
'We are all very relieved to hear that Chris, Tim, Wayne and Joby
are safe and well. Their challenge has captured the imagination of
the world and it is very sad indeed that it has come to an early
end. We look forward to giving the men a rousing welcome back here
in the Isles of Scilly nonetheless!' |
