Six rowers rescued as boat capsizes in Atlantic

Crew were taking part in Atlantic Odyssey Challenge

Six rowers sparked an international rescue mission when their boat Sara G capsized in the North Atlantic Ocean on Monday morning.

The men, from Britain and Ireland, were rowing from Morocco to Barbados for the Atlantic Odyssey Challenge. They were racing to become the first crew in history to break the sub-30 day barrier, a challenge they dubbed “ocean rowing’s very own four-minute mile”, when their boat capsized.

Falmouth Coastguard was alerted at 11am on Monday morning when their EPIRB was activated. The crew attached their liferaft to the hull of the capsized boat and waited whilst Falmouth Coastguard coordinated the rescue.

The Coastguard in Fort-De-France, Martinique, took over the rescue mission and sent two merchant vessels to investigate. They were picked up at 1am this morning by a Panamanian cargo ship. The other vessel was expected to arrive on scene at 4am this morning.

“All six are reported unharmed and as well as can be expected after spending 14 hours in a liferaft in rough seas,” a statement from the Coastguard said.

Sara G was 27 days into her 30-day journey when she capsized. Her last known location was 530 nautical miles east of Barbados.

Skipper Matt Craughwell and crew Ian Rowe, Aodhan Kelly, Simon Brown, Yaacov Mutnikas and Mark Beaumont are heading towards Gibraltar and are expected to arrive on February 9th.