MONTREAL, October 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
British adventurer Sarah Outen
has arrived in Montreal aboard the
Federal Oshima after being forced to abort her solo row across the
Atlantic.
On Saturday October 3rd, Sarah
called to be evacuated from the ocean, having received warnings
that she was now in the direct path of Hurricane Joaquin's expected
track. Winds in excess of 70 knots and 12-meter waves were
expected.
Bulk carrier the Federal Oshima, owned by Canadian company
Fednav, was the nearest ship able to reroute to pick Sarah up. The
crew evacuated her safely and she has spent the last week on the
ship as it continued its journey to Montreal. Sadly, Sarah's rowing boat, Happy
Socks, was lost at sea in the process.
Sarah Outen said:
"I am very grateful to the Captain and crew of Federal
Oshima for coming to my assistance. I have experienced conditions
of that strength in the North Pacific in 2012 and so the decision
to request assistance was easy. Mother Nature reigns supreme and I
respect her. I am glad that it recurved away from land, however -
the loss of life and damage on land would have been huge. Losing my
boat Happy Socks has been very painful - we were a team, so I have
lost a friend."
Sarah was two-thirds of the way across the Atlantic. She set off
from Cape Cod, MA, USA on
14/05/2015 to row the 3000 miles to
Cornwall, England. The North
Atlantic season has been a poor one, and Sarah was continually
pushed off course and backwards by bad weather and currents,
thought to be a consequence of this strong El Nino year. Sarah had
spent 143 days aboard Happy Socks rowing thousands of miles of
ocean before being picked up by the Federal Oshima.
She added: "Having spent over a year of my life
aboard small rowing boats alone on the world's oceans, the Atlantic
turned out to be the row to end all rows for me. I had a brilliant
and challenging time out there this summer. I am excited to be
returning home to finish the final leg of what has been an
extraordinary few years of my life and round off my London2London
expedition."
The Atlantic crossing was the final major leg of Sarah's
ground-breaking expedition, London2London: Via the World. She has
spent the last five years cycling, kayaking and rowing around the
world's Northern Hemisphere. On finishing in London, Sarah will have clocked up over 27,000
miles, raised thousands of pounds for her supported charities and
engaged with thousands of school children around the world.
She will return to the UK next week to complete the final UK leg
of her expedition - cycling and kayaking from Cornwall, England up to Tower Bridge,
London, arriving on 3rd November 2015.
Sarah's expedition: http://sarahouten.com/
@SarahOuten
SOURCE Sarah Outen