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Saved rowers arrived in Saguenay

Four British women, Jane McIntosh, Clare Lanyon, Olivia Wilson and Gemma Chalk, who were trying to row across the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados ended up in Saguenay, Que., instead, after being rescued off the northwest coast of Africa. They were about 20 days into their attempt to break a women's speed record when a wave damaged their boat around 400 nautical miles off Cape Verde. They broke an oar, lost their GPS and their Automatic Identification System, or AIS, which tells them if there are other ships in the area, was damaged. The crew was forced to put out a distress call. 11 hours later, the "Rio Grita" arrived on the scene. The bulker had to manoeuvre carefully into position to rescue the women, making seven attempts before finally getting them aboard. A total of 16 hours passed between the distress call and the rowers' safe arrival onboard "Rio Grita". The women spent almost two weeks aboard the bulkcarrier as she made her way to a Rio Tinto facility in Saguenay. They arrived on Feb 26 — exactly one month after their ill-fated journey began — and caught a flight back to the United Kingdom the same day. The rowers were affiliated with a company called Oceanus Rowing that organizes trans-ocean rowing expeditions. Report with photo: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/saguenay-ship-rescues-british-rowers-1.3467805

Bulk carrier saved distressed rowers off Cape Verde

The "Rio Grita" saved the distresssed rowers Olivia Wolson, Gemma Chalk, Clare Lanyon and Jane McIntosh who were attempting to break the women’s speed record for rowing nearly 3,000 miles across the ocean between Gran Canaria and Barbados with the "Fire Ant". The women had set off on Jan 26, 2016, but were forced to send a distress signal on Feb 13 at 9.08 a.m. around 400 miles off Cape Verde on the African coast. Their 8.5-metre rowing boat had capsized numerous times, resulting in some of their vital equipment such as oars and GPS washing away with the waves and leaving them with no way to navigate or manoeuvre. Following a distress call to the UK Coastguard, the watchstanders received several responses to their mayday request, with the "Rio Greata" being the nearest vessel being 90 nautical miles away. They quickly diverted and set course to the stricken rowersthey waited for more than 11 hours before the bulkcarrier on its way to Canada was able to rescue them on Feb 14 at 1.25 a.m. It took the vessel over three hours to get the girls on board due to the terrible weather. In the end, they had to throw down a rope ladder and it was pretty much a leap of faith to get them up. All were reported to be well. The women were hoping to raise £20,000 for Barnardo’s Children Charity and the Forces Children’s Trust, but have now been forced to abandon their attempt. They are expected to arrive in Port Alfred in Quebec on Feb 22 or 23rd and will then fly home.