US Coastguard save Niall’s bid to row across Atlantic

A man rowing solo across the Atlantic has thanked coastguards who fixed his broken rudder after he thought he would be forced to abandon the expedition.

Niall Iain Macdonald set off from Cobb’s Marina in Norfolk, Virginia, in the US on May 23 in an attempt to row 3,400 miles across the North Atlantic to his home in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.

However on Monday his rudder broke in heavy weather and he feared he would have to abandon his challenge, as he had been forced to in 2014, when he suffered a back injury days into his first bid to row the Atlantic.

Mr Macdonald, 44, rang UK coastguards who contacted their US counterparts. On his blog, he wrote: “I thought I would have to abandon the row, and my boat, again.”

However, when US Coastguard cutter Diligence arrived on Wednesday the crew told him they should be able to fix the rudder and took him on board, where they carried out repairs in their engineering room. They then returned him to his boat, Alba, and fixed the rudder back in place.

Mr Macdonald, a Gaelic broadcaster, said the coastguards saved his row and expressed his gratitude to them.