Lancashire dad’s bid to cross Atlantic in world’s smallest boat ends after rescue
Andrew is safe and well after his epic journey came to abrupt end.
A Lancashire dad’s latest bid to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the world’s smallest boat has ended after he was rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard just two days into the voyage.
Adventurer Andrew Bedwell, 52, from Scarisbreck, departed from St John’s, Newfoundland in Canada on Thursday, June 4 - however, on Saturday, June 6 he was forced to request assistance from the Canadian Coast Guard.
Andrew was attempting to to fulfil his “lifelong dream” to break the world record for the shortest vessel to cross the Atlantic - a record that has been unbroken for the past three decades.
The vessel known as the ‘Big C V2’, measuring just 1.2m long (3.9ft), had to be abandoned at sea during the rescue.
The good news is that Andrew is safe and well, but he’s no doubt disappointed as this is the second failed attempt in three years, with his previous vessel - named 'Big C' - being sidelined after it 'sank' in 2023 on the first day.
An update following the rescue from blogger NL Maritime, read: “Many people have been asking what happened to Andrew Bedwell and Big C V2 during the latest attempt to cross the Atlantic in the world’s smallest ocean-going boat.
“What we know so far is that Andrew departed St John’s, Newfoundland, on 4 June and had been at sea for only a couple of days when the voyage came to an unexpected end.
“On 6 June, the Canadian Coast Guard received a request for assistance from Andrew while he was approximately 120 km east of Grates Cove, Newfoundland. The Coast Guard vessel CCGS Sacred Bay responded, successfully recovering Andrew at around 2:15 pm local time before bringing him safely ashore at Old Perlican.
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“The good news is that Andrew is safe.
“The bad news is that Big C V2 was abandoned at sea, bringing this latest record attempt to an end.
At this stage, there has been no formal statement from the coast guard regarding the nature of the rescue operation or the reason for the challenge being abandoned. However, Andrew did contact the Post on Monday, June 8 saying that he was “flying home tonight” and he’s decided to “draw a line under it [the record attempt], and move on”.