An expedition team which set sail from Plymouth on a 5,000-mile carbon emission-free trip to Greenland have been rescued by an oil tanker.
Raoul Surcouf, Richard Spink and skipper Ben Stoddart sent a mayday because they feared for their safety amid winds of 68mph (109km/h).
All three are reportedly exhausted but safe on board the Overseas Yellowstone.
Mr Surcouf, 40, from Jersey, Mr Spink, 31, and Mr Stoddart, 43, from Bristol, are due to arrive in the USA on 8 May.
‘Heartfelt thanks’
The team, which left Mount Batten Marina in Plymouth on 19 April in a boat named the Fleur, aimed to rely on sail, solar and man power on a 580-mile (933km/h) journey to and from the highest point of the Greenland ice cap.
…
But atrocious weather dogged their journey after 27 April, culminating with the rescue on 1 May after the boat was temporarily capsized three times by the wind.
…
Water was also getting into the boat from waves breaking over it and the crew took refuge in the forward cabin.
The crew were 400 miles (644km) off the west coast of Ireland when they sent a mayday to Falmouth coastguards who co-ordinated the rescue with Irish coastguards.
The transfer from the Fleur to Overseas Yellowstone was achieved in 42mph (67km/h) winds.
see the complete story from BBC NEWS here
(h/t to Philip Bratby – I suppose the boat becomes eco-pollution on the high sea now – Anthony)
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What delicious irony! I love it.
Bad luck, keep up the spirit, give it another try.
You couldn’t make it up! I wonder how much fuel it takes to manoeuvre an oil tanker to rescue sailors?
We must invent a new word for Ecotists.
The word lunatics has already been used up by Moon lovers
oh, the irony!
Gee, not much grit. principles or determination here with these Econauts is there? Saved by one of the carriers of the death of Gaia, which itself consumes massive amounts of distillates to operate.
Just begs the question surrounding wind power and why we stopped using sailing ships to transport our people and goods across the world’s ocean. Why do people keep trying to sabotage their own messaging? Are they really this deluded as to the reality of the power of natural forces of the planet?
Kayaking to the North Pole
Trying for the Northwest Passage
Cruise Ships Trapped in the Ice
Caitlin Expedition
Carbon Free Sailing – well except for the composite hull and man-made materials in the ship itself, electronics, solar panels,etc…
All this does is highlight that these people are fanatical in beliefs and have no respect for the planet they claim to want to save.
With the Catlins just out of their hunger, how long before the first eco-martyr
Maybe, next time, they’ll have a back up plan! Their carbon footprint had to have just exploded, enough so that if “cap and trade” were in effect, they’d be doin’ some serious “trading”….(lol!)
I emailed the BBC to point out that the yachtsmen failed to thank the crew.
Lo and behold, the quote magically changed. I guess we can have an effect on news events, even ax-post-facto;-)
Saved by Big Oil!!
During the negative phase of the PDO, the jet stream is pushed northward and may become more turbulent due to its extreme global position. This northern jet stream stays that way through much of its circuitous route until it starts to fade a bit south again on the other side of us, only to be pused north when it encounters the Pacific coning round the bend. Ocean travel would then be peppered with strong storms both in the Pacific and the Atlantic. Environmentalists don”t appear to be very good a reading sailing advisories, instead believing that calm warm waters are out and about. If you can’t convince these people who attempt travel to the Arctic or across open water duing cold oscillations, it is understandable why folks we encounter here are completely closed to our studied but nonetheless armchair observations.
Never underestimate the power of Nature. She doesn’t like to be trifled with! Happy to hear no one was seriously injured or killed.
But what were they trying to show?
Sailors in wooden ships have made such voyages for over a thousand years and at first didn’t even have compasses: let alone windmill generators or solar panels. They didn’t have chronometers and sextants until 250 years ago and the use of windmills, to drive the bilge pumps not for electric generation, was I believe, developed by Norwegian owners and masters towards the end of the 19th century.
Kindest Regards
Team spokeswoman Jess Tombs said: “They are all overwhelmingly relieved to be safe.”
I nominate this for the “self-evident statement of the year” award…
“…a boat named the Fleur, aimed to rely on sail, solar and man power on a 580-mile (933[b]km/h[/b]) journey…”
that is some speed for a boat powered by sail, solar and man power alone.
Wow. What can I say.
Now, for this story to be as ridiculous as the advertising of “Timberland Earthkeepers” shoes (see link below), the sailors should be grateful, not to the big oil tanker, but to good’ol Nature, for sending them those winds that eventually took them to the big oil tanker. It was obviously Nature which saved their lives.
Video of the advertisement here:
Delicious indeed.
Ok, now let’s send a Hummer (the real, military one) to extract the Caitlin folks. Better, a ski-equipped Hercules DEPOSITS a Hummer onto the ice (while still moving, like in the pickup truck commercial) and the Hummer races off to the rescue.
As I boy, I looked-up to the legendary British explorers; Shakleton, Hillary, etc. What has happened that three Brits can’t sail a boat in a gale?
Hullo, Idjuts! Sea anchor? Ya know, a full spare sail bag would have probably worked in case you were dim enough not to stow the real thing. Better than taking it on the beam, being knocked down three times, “bonking heads”, and getting rescued by some massive M/V.
Heck, Shetland Islanders used-to take out there sixereens out in weather like this. Heck some more, I have seen 60 knots (plus downbursts) in the Houston NOOD in my old Tartan Ten. Pretty dicey, lots of shredded mains all around us, but with two reefs in we still made headway. Point up, point up!
Better still, perhaps waiting a couple of months would have been good.
It is indeed nasty out there in the North Atlantic.
One would think that this expedition had some planning. If so, wouldn’t those planning have made some attempt to time the voyage for a period when the weather was a little less dramatic?
Perhaps the weather was unusual, or maybe the voyage was timed to coincide with some political occasion rather than weather reality. I suspect the latter, but don’t know enough about North Atlantic weather to be sure.
The expedition was followed by up to 40 schools across the UK to promote climate change awareness.
So now they’re going to blame this failure on AGW instead of a case of possession obsession* and stupidity, the real “causes” of AGW?
* for money, love, and power – Hall and Oates, Possession Obsession
As sensible sailors we wouldn’t do that journey just now and if forced to we’d have good weather forecasts available to make sure we didn’t end up in danger. They idiotically ended up in danger.
Is being silly a precondition for eco ventures?
“journey to and from the highest point of the Greenland ice cap.” How were they going to get their boat to the tip of Gunnbjørn Fjeld (12,139 ft above sealevel) ?
Oil tanker rescues Greenies. You couldn’t make it up, could you.
I’m sure there’s a damn good analogy to be found in all of this…
What is most amazing, is they keep trying these stunts …
Please, this headline is just too funny……
This adventure reads like a story in Sail magazine.Some years ago I had the *pleasure*
of crossing the the Columbia River Bar in a 72 footer-Schooner rig,good aux power,
and had the daylights scared of of me.This was in Mid Summer with the Northwesterlies
blowing.” Idjits “indeed…