Ocean rower just ‘happy to be alive’
Solo ocean rower Niall Iain Macdonald said he is ‘just happy to be alive’ after a terrifying ordeal which ended in him being rescued by a cargo ship a quarter of the way into the challenge.
The 44-year-old from Lewis had to be rescued from his boat, ALBA, last Friday after his cabin was swamped and his systems started to fail during heavy seas.
Niall Iain was rowing solo across the North Atlantic to raise at least £100,000 for Scottish mental health charity SAMH – and to raise awareness of mental health issues. So far he has reached more than £20,000 on his Just Giving NY2SY page.
The Gaelic broadcaster from the Isle of Lewis, who was more than a quarter of the way into his North Atlantic challenge, was battered by severe weather during the night and forced to make a Mayday call before abandoning ship.
He was picked up from his liferaft on Friday morning by a Dutch cargo ship, the DOLFIJNGRACHT. His boat, which has suffered extensive damage, has been abandoned at sea.
Niall Iain’s support team learned of the incident in a phone call from the deck of the DOLFIJNGRACHT on Friday. He was able to provide further details in an email, where he described the harrowing rescue – and spoke of his relief at still being alive.
The rescue comes just two days after an NY2SY update, celebrating the fact that Niall Iain was more than a quarter of the way home, having passed 871 miles or more than 1,400 kilometres and averaging about 40 miles a day.
His main shore support, Leven Brown, had said he was doing ‘an amazing job’ and ‘making good time’.
Leven also spoke of the use of sea anchors during heavy weather. A sea anchor works in a similar way to a parachute and is used to stabilise a boat in bad weather. It is attached to the bow of the boat on a line, under the surface of the water, and increases the boat’s drag.
It helps to minimise loss of position during bad weather, when the rower is inside the cabin, and also points the nose of the boat into the wind, helping to reduce the risk of capsizing.
He said last week: ‘My memory of the North Atlantic is that you could be in a storm in the morning at sea anchor and in the evening you could be doing five knots towards home. The weather is all over the shop.’
In his email, Niall Iain describes being hit side on, repeatedly, by waves.
He pressed the red emergency button on his VHF and issued a Mayday call. He spoke with the UK Coastguard on the sat phone who advised there were vessels around and they were being directed to his position. An aircraft was also being sent to the scene. After trying to raise anyone on his VHF, Niall Iain then saw the VHF aerial had been snapped.
As systems started to fail, he eventually received a call on his hand-held VHF from the cargo vessel DOLFIJNGRACHT that they were making their way to his location.
‘As harrowing as the rescue was for me, the captain and crew of the DOLFIJNGRACHT did an amazing job getting me onboard in very difficult conditions (4m waves and 2m swell according to the captain). I am just happy to be alive, I haven’t really thought about anything else,’ he said.