Race organisers say former war crimes investigator suffered a heart attack while skippering a boat from the Canary Islands to Antigua
A former Australian spy and war crimes investigator has died skippering a rowing boat in a race across the Atlantic Ocean.
Alisdair Putt, who had planned to spend his 62nd birthday on the boat, suffered a heart attack while competing in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic rowing race from the Canary Islands to Antigua.
Continue reading...For the past few weeks, I’ve been getting ready for Christmas. As well as putting the tree up ridiculously early, I’ve made the cake, bought the presents and assembled the stockings. Even though my children no longer believe in Santa, the crinkle of my dad’s old golf socks stuffed full of presents on Christmas morning still makes their faces light up.
But this year, for the first time since they were born, I won’t be there to celebrate with them. I’m leaving my husband Fred, daughter Inès, 15, and son Vincent, 12, to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic as part of the annual Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. My four-woman crew of mothers is called the Mothership, and between us we have 11 children, the youngest of whom is four.
Continue reading...Jasmine Harrison, the youngest woman to make the 3,000-mile journey alone, relished the freedom of doing it all by herself
It was always during the night when things went wrong for Jasmine Harrison, the youngest woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Like the time her boat hurtled into a huge wave at 19.2 knots and capsized, leaving her with a badly injured elbow.
“I was basically thrown at a wall at 20-odd miles an hour. That’s going to hurt, especially in the middle of your sleep,” she said. “Everything happened when I was asleep.”
Continue reading...Jasmine Harrison made the record-breaking journey in 70 days, three hours and 48 minutes
A 21-year-old swimming teacher from North Yorkshire has become the youngest woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Jasmine Harrison, a part-time teacher and bartender from Thirsk, began the journey in December when she departed from La Gomera in the Canary Islands. It took her 70 days, three hours and 48 minutes to reach Antigua.
Continue reading...Angela Madsen, whose remarkable life took in a spell in the Marines, a string of gold medals and record setting rowing journeys, has died while attempting a solo journey from California to Hawaii.
The 60-year-old’s death was confirmed by her wife, Deb Madsen, in a Facebook post on Tuesday. “With extreme sadness,” she wrote, “I must announce that Angela Madsen will not complete her solo row to Hawaii.”
Continue reading...Lachlan trio from Edinburgh speak of their gruelling 3,000-mile challenge after arrival in Antigua
For Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan MacLean, it’s been a struggle to keep their feet on the ground after rowing in record-breaking time across the Atlantic. “When I went to sleep last night, I thought I’d wake up on the boat with the alarm going off, and someone screaming ‘to port, to port’,” said Jamie.
For their parents, Sheila and Charlie, the brothers’ arrival in Antigua on Thursday must have come as a relief. Their only children, aged 27, 26 and 21 respectively, have just spent 35 days, nine hours and nine minutes in a 28ft boat, travelling 2,720 nautical miles from the Canaries in the Talisker Atlantic Challenge.
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