A six-person rowing team, including skipper and EC member Matt Craughwell and adventurer Mark Beaumont were rescued last night from the Atlantic Ocean. A wave swamped their boat as they attempted to row 3500 miles from Morocco to Barbados.
They were attempting to set a new record for the crossing of less than 30 days. They had completed 3000 miles of their journey and were just 520 miles short of Barbados when the freak wave hit. Their 36ft boat the Sara G capsized in seconds because the wave hit them during a change in shifts which meant one of the main hatches was open.
The crew was thrown into the water wearing just t-shirts and shorts. They were able to deploy their life-raft and set off their emergency locator beacon. Eventually they were picked up by the tanker Nord Taipei, which is headed to Gibraltar. Coastguards in Falmouth, Cornwall, helped coordinate the rescue. The crew are uninjured and are due to reach land on the 9th February."2 to mark my 50th Birthday