Wheelie disappointing as ‘bin boat’ trip fails
A DAD who dreamt of breaking the record for crossing the Atlantic in the smallest yacht has had to bin the attempt.
On day one Andrew Bedwell’s 3ft 2in-long yacht – which has been compared to a wheelie bin– was not seaworthy and he had to return to harbour.
Then his vessel, named Big C, was lost in the recovery operation.
The 49-year-old yachtsman and sailmaker from Scarisbrick, Lancashire, set off on the 1,900mile solo trip on Saturday from Newfoundland in Canada, but soon noticed “water ingress”.
He said he came “back in for safety reasons just to check it”.
But he added that when his team returned on Sunday “the boat had basically sunk.”
Hopes that it could be recovered were soon dashed. He said yesterday: “Because she was full of water, we had to kind of lift her out by her framework rather than put straps underneath the boat.
“So we lifted her up, got her up to the harbour wall but because it’s got so much water inside she gave way and she’s dropped down on to the harbour side and basically it’s destroyed the boat.”
The mariner spent three years building the fibreglass micro-yacht in his garage. Its mast was just over 11ft high and it had a top speed of 2.5mph.
He had planned to survive on vitamin drinks and bags of beef jerky, raisins and fat, which were moulded into the walls of his cabin.
Andrew, who was raising money for cancer research, was inspired by current record holder Hugo Vihlen, who crossed in a 5ft 4in boat 30 years ago. He called his team “amazing”, adding: “Big C can’t carry on. I can’t do it. I’m sorry.”