GB Row 2009

PRESS RELEASE

barnst — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:28:42 +0000

A light aircraft crashed into the Irish Sea near Tuskar rock on 11th August 2009 just before 1700 hours approximately 7 miles from the south-east tip of Ireland near Rosslare. Team GB Row were approximately 2 miles from the impact and witnessed the incident, initiating a MAYDAY call to the coastguards.

Subsequently, the crew of GB Row aboard British Orchid, were diverted from their World record attempt to row around the UK on day 12, and decided to postpone their attempt to row around GB.

The knock on effect of the incident meant they lost valuable time and focus. Due to the hazardous and seasonal worsening sea conditions around Northern Scotland, they missed their weather window and intend to re-start our attempt when the weather window opens again in June 2010.

The crew of GB Row, consisting of Nick Bevan, Oliver Dudley, Will Homer and Rob Pickering, would like to congratulate the extreme professionalism of the Coast Guard and RNLI with their subsequent rescue of pilot John O’Shaughnessy who was dispatched from hospital a few hours after the incident.

They also wish to congratulate the only crew and therefore existing World Record Holders who successfully completed the round mainland UK row in 2005 in an astonishing time of 26 days 21 hours 14 minutes. The successful crew, led by William de Laszlo, included Ben Jesty, James Bastin and William Turnage – their website is www.gbrowchallenge.com

All footage that has been aired on media channels worldwide is ©GBrow.com

You can contact us for further information on the footage which we are in possession and ownership of, and for further imagery.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

GB Row Skipper, Nick Bevan, based in Warwickshire, can be contacted on +44 7969 180 032 or nick@gbrow.com

GB Row crew member Oliver Dudley, based in London, can be contacted on +44 7852 746 778 or oliver@dudley.net www.ThinkPossible.co.uk

Wednesday 12th - Update

barnst — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:58:57 +0000

Fingers crossed we are headed to Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club, about 1 mile up river from Poolbeg lighthouse, Dublin.

Want to repair boat and find new crew member to continue to Dover via scotland. Anyone?

Please give generously…

barnst — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:01:57 +0000

A consequence of the events of the last few days is that we will receive more media coverage and more hits to the website, but we would just like to remind everyone the reason for doing the challenge is to raise money for the charity Orchid, so please give generously:

Donate Now

Press updates

barnst — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:58:24 +0000

We will be adding links to news articles about the plane crash as and when they appear…

The Independent

Irish Times

Breaking News

Wednesday 12th

barnst — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:49:17 +0000

We are headed to Wicklow to meet sky news and press association and hand over footage of rescue.

For all media we are contactable on +44 7852 746 778.

Will has left the boat for personal reasons with our full support after the plane crash.

We are then headed to Dublin for urgent repairs and full evaluation of options.

Our spirit on board is strong.

I will be updating www.Twitter.com/Think_possible today.

BBC news tonight.

Big love xxx

Tuesday 11th August

barnst — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 07:10:36 +0000

A day tougher than yesterday which wasn’t expected! We hit South East Ireland having recovered from the storm despite the strong tide in between Ireland and Wales.

Anchored with the tide against us we saw an aeroplane crash into the sea (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0811/breaking71.htm) and initiated the mayday rescue and were first on the scene. We got caught in the rip tides & over fall just off Tuskar rock which cost us several hours.

The pilot was rescued by the coast guard helicopter and has since confirmed to be safe.

What seems to be a daily occurrence of drama has left us with power problems and has pushed the world record from sight.

However, we are safe and well and heading to the coast to discuss our options.

More news tomorrow (hopefully of wind behind us).

Lots of love,

GB boys. xxxx

Monday 10th – stormy, stormy night – 5.30pm

barnst — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:04:32 +0000

Today we faced our biggest challenge so far as we realised what the Irish Sea really had to offer… last night we were caught in a severe storm which was not a great way to start Will’s birthday! We part capsized, which unfortunately cost us an oar, which was smashed off, as well as two rowlocks (the piece which connects the oars to the boat) – thankfully we still made some progress and we only lost a few hours. We’re now heading straight for the south east of Ireland, fingers crossed we’ll get there later tonight. We’re currently 30 thirty miles away.

The wind is still against us until Thursday, but after that it looks likely it will be behind us for the first time.

We were all a little disheartened today as our improvised rowlocks, held on with coat hanger wire, could go at any time. That would be the end of our expedition.

We’re all missing people at home and hope everything is well.

Friday 7th

barnst — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:02:53 +0000

0400-0600 - will is on the grave yard shift - wind and tide against us coupled with being half asleep making the GPS screen impossible to read.

09:00 - tides are with us, but as per usual, the wind has picked up from the west, so it’s heading straight at us, which is so depressing when your slaving away trying to make ground, and being blown the other direction!

We are all stating to eat more now thankfully, although were struggling to eat more than 3000-4000 cals per day, half of what were using. Also we are all quite sure we will NEVER eat out of plastic bags again, really missing home cooked food

Lands end tommorow lunchtime hopefully, then the Irish sea begins!!

Miss you all, love the GB row Boys xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wednesday 5th - a close encounter

barnst — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 06:47:44 +0000

Wednesday night brought a close encounter with a tanker passing a few hundred metres away.

21:00-06:00 - very deep sleeps with everyone managing to dream within the hour! This brought on confusion and disorientation among the crew and meant the strokes found it virtually impossible to keep their eyes open to look at the compass and alter course!

13:41 - will clambers acrobatically back to the rudder on top of the aft cabin in order to tighten up the steering.

14:23 - nick and rob are powering us through the water at an average of 4.9 knots.

Tuesday 4th

barnst — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:10:34 +0000

Currently at anchor since 3am 15m SE Isle of Wight. Once again watching clock tick away and not going anywhere.

Good chance for sleep though. Break from the 2 hours on, 2 hours off. Body thankful at least. We heard what we thought was wind whistling but was a French yacht and they could see no life on board so issued a Pan Pan call to coast guard.

Until anchor we were storming. Hit 6 knots at one stage but averaging 4 as wind died down.

All else being equal wind and it’s direction will decide outcome of this record attempt.

We need to average 3 knots to beat the record. Since departure it’s 1.6 knots which is about a 50 day row. Ouch. But wind in Irish sea up our ar** is what we are all hoping for. Until then channel will be a crawl at best with this weather

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