| At sea & Antigua. Another eventful week in the Atlantic Rowing Race 2005 |
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| Thursday, 26 January 2006 | |
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Teresa Page: At 1536 Hours GMT on Monday 23 January 2006, Boat No. 20 – Bout de Vie crewed by Frenchmen, Frank Bruno and Dominique Benassi triumphantly crossed the finish line in Antigua to mark the end of a remarkable voyage. Bout de Vie is the fifth boat to finish the race, in a crossing time of 54 days, 3 hours and 31 minutes but unlike the other teams competing in the Race, Frank and Dominique’s story is slightly different. Both Frank and Dominique are leg amputees but they have competed on equal terms alongside their able bodied competitors to prove that anything is possible and this they have most certainly have done. On stepping on to dry land for the first time in two months, Dominique and Frank were greeted by the largest crowd yet, all curious to meet these two unique individuals and they truly are an inspiration to people worldwide. Whilst on the subject of boat finishers, please note that the official race rankings will not be published until the last boat has crossed the finish line and any related penalties incurred have been applied. Therefore, boat finishers are currently listed in line honours format (i.e. in the order that boats cross the finish line). Moving on to Tuesday and the Atlantic Ocean claims yet another victim. At 1417 hours GMT on Tuesday 24 January 2006, Falmouth Coastguard picked up a 406 MHz EPIRB signal from a beacon registered to Boat No. 2 – Serenity Now, crewed by Bristol based brothers, Duncan Pearson and Gareth Pearson. A full scale search and rescue mission was immediately put in to place, coordinated by MRCC Fort de France with the assistance of Falmouth Coastguard and Woodvale Events Race HQ. Two vessels in the vicinity of the EPIRB signal were diverted and the first vessel arrived on the scene just prior to 2200 hours GMT yesterday evening. They confirmed visual of a liferaft attached to a capsized boat and with two men onboard. A few hours later, the bulk carrier the Hispania Spirit arrived on the scene and successfully rescued Duncan and Gareth. You may recognise this name as the Hispania Spirit is the very same carrier that rescued Irishmen, Gearoid Towey and Ciaran Lewis nearly two weeks ago. Having spoken to Duncan today (Wednesday 25 January 2006), it appears that whilst both men were rowing, a double wave hit them depositing a large amount of water on the deck. This caused the boat to tip sideways but the scuppers were not allowing the water to drain off the deck quickly enough and therefore the motion continued to take the boat all the way over. Duncan confirmed that the main access hatch to the aft cabin was open at the time, compromising the watertight integrity of the boat and preventing it from self righting. Both Duncan and Gareth are unharmed if not slightly shocked by their ordeal and deeply disappointed. The Hispania Spirit is now on route to Trinidad and Tobago and is due in to Point Fortin tomorrow evening (Thursday 26 January 2006). Estimated arrival times for the next five boats in to Antigua are as follows: Boat No. 14 – Atlantic Prince Friday 27 January 2006 (early morning) Boat No. 27 – Team Scandlines Saturday 28 January 2006 (afternoon) Boat No. 22 – Atlantic Warrior Sunday 29 January 2006 (afternoon) Boat No. 33 – Row 4 Cancer Tuesday 31 January 2006 Boat No. 4 – Row 4 Life Tuesday 31 January 2006 http://www.atlanticrowingrace.co.uk |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 January 2006 ) |
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