FOUR MEN are lucky to be alive after being rescued from a row-boat off the coast of Wexford.
Volunteer members of the Rosslare Harbour RNLI responded to a request for assistance from the young men on Thursday after they encountered worsening weather conditions. The call out lasted over six hours as the all-weather lifeboat towed the 24-foot rowing boat out of the English channel and back to the safety of Rosslare harbour.
One of the four, Andrew Mason, told The Echo that, “we had to make an early call, the wind picked up and we were blown off course, we would have been blown back in to the traffic zone and would have caused chaos.”
The group were attempting a record-breaking row around the U.K. coast, leaving London just 10 days before, coming down through the Bristol channel and out into the open sea. The crew were attempting to tackle some of the most dangerous and fast turning tides in the world, crossing the world’s busiest shipping lanes and trying to avoid heavy-duty shipping such as car ferries and industrial fishing trawlers.
However, with the weather worsening on Thursday, they found themselves battling the elements 22 miles off the Irish coast. Conditions were fresh with a north north-westerly wind gusting 25 knots. It was then they made the decision to contact the Coast Guard and request help.
The crew at Rosslare received the call at 6.15pm and launched in minutes. When on scene an hour later they checked if the young men were okay before establishing a tow and bringing the craft back slowly so as not to part the tow to the safety of Rosslare Harbour. The four rowers were looked after in Rosslare before they decided to keep going with the journey even though they knew they would not break the record at that Stage.
Commenting on the call out Rosslare RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager David Maloney said: “This call out was a good example of people recognising the importance of calling for help early when they realise they may be getting into difficulty. The group were dealing with worsening weather conditions and a changing tide which was taking them further from where they needed to be, all while they were mid-channel on a record attempt.
“However they didn’t let this sway them and raised the alarm bringing help. They had the right safety equipment and made a call quickly. If they had waited until things got worse and help was not close enough, it could have ended very differently. I have no doubt they will achieve any records they set their mind to in future.”
Mr Mason told The Echo that the team were disappointed at the bad luck but that they were determined to complete the journey. Currently in Belfast, he expects them to arrive back in London within 17 days. He said the team wanted to thank the RNLI for saving the day for them, “RNLI boys were fantastic, they are a really good bunch of blokes, thanks so much to them for all their help.” The RNLI crew that responded were E. O’Rourke, K. Morris, K. Miller, A. Sheil, S. Breen, S. Kavanagh and R. Parish.
You can follow the Rough and Ready team’s progress on Facebook at Rough and Ready – GB Ocean Row Challenge 2016.