A group of rowers, attempting to break a world record, are facing a further battle in the wake of their boat capsizing in the Atlantic ocean.
Father-of-four Ian Rowe, 46, from Harrold was one of six crew members rowing across the ocean from Morocco to Barbados when their vessel overturned around 520 miles from the finish.
The group were 27 days into their journey – trying to beat the 30 day record – when on Monday morning their boat, Sara G, capsized in ‘challenging’ conditions.
Mr Rowe’s wife Lisa spoke of the agonising wait after hearing the news. She said: “Thank god they are all OK.
“For some reason their boat capsized and they tied themselves to life boats and waited for 15 hours.” But now the crew members, who are due to arrive in Gibraltar on Thursday after being rescued by a ship during the early hours of Tuesday morning, face a further wait to see if they’re even able to get off the boat there.
Mrs Rowe said: “It’s like a living nightmare at the moment.
“I just want Ian home and I feel so helpless.” Because all their passports and documents fell into the ocean, Mrs Rowe said the rowers can’t prove who they are when they get to Gibraltar which doesn’t have a passport office or a consulate.
Mrs Rowe, with others, has been desperately trying to come up with a solution but she said: “At the moment it looks like they’re not allowed off the boat without documentation which they haven’t got.
“The shipping agents over here are trying to organise it but it’s the timescale of things that’s the problem.
“Just when they thought it’d be straightforward it’s proving far more difficult.” Last month we reported that the rowers including: Simon Brown – the brother of Bedford Modern School’s director of rowing, the current world recordholding skipper Matt Craughwell (who completed the trip in 33 days last year), round-the-world cyclist Mark Beaumont and Arctic-rower Yaacov Mutnikas - were taking on the Atlantic Challenge hoping to beat the world record.
