I came home yesterday morning at about 1130hrs to a flashing answer phone with a message from Anthony timed at 0930, asking me to contact him. This was not our normal routine so I was worried that a problem had arisen out at sea. I tried in vain to make contact using a normal text message and tried to call the sat-phone with no luck. It was not until 1330 hrs that Anthony made contact. Feeling very downhearted Anthony explained that during the extremely bad weather that he had been experiencing, the rudder had been ripped from its fixings on the boat and was hanging on by its control lines. It was now obvious that without the ability to steer the boat the challenge would have to be aborted. With a heavy heart, Anthony had to make a decision as to how to contact the Spanish authorities for assistance. Apart from the rudder crashing against the side of the boat, there was no additional danger. The decision was made that rather than set off the emergency rescue devise, I would contact Falmouth Coastguard on his behalf, and they would be able to contact the Spanish equivalent and send assistance. Anthony’s position at that time was 26deg19minN 19deg02minW with a large swell affecting the boat. The parachute anchor had been out for almost three days. At Falmouth, Coastguard, Gerry Anderson, took down all the details and passed the information on to their colleagues in Madrid. The Spanish authorities immediately despatched a boat from Tenerife to pick Anthony up. So far as we are aware, they made contact with Anthony and picked him up at 0200hrs this morning. They are due to arrive back in the Canaries at about 2000hrs tonight. I will update this diary as soon as we have any more information.
BW (Land based co-ordinator).