I'm sailing across the Atlantic in the shortest boat ever: Lancashire dad preps for Big C Atlantic Challenge

An adventurer from Scarisbreck is heading to Canada in just under four weeks to embark on a staggering world record attempt.

Next month, Andrew Bedwell is hoping to fulfill 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 6 foot 2 tall sailer is setting sail from Newfoundland to the UK in a ship just under four feet long, meaning he has to spend most of the journey crouched into a slightly extended fetal position during good conditions and harnessed in a seated position during the rough conditions.

Explaining why he wanted to do his ‘Big C Atlantic Challenge’ as it is named, Andrew told us: “I've always done very unusual challenges, and sailing has been a huge one in my life since literally day dot. I've done many, many other sailing challenges, trips, passages and this is just one of the ultimate ones in my mind to break.”

The now 50-year-old first started watersports aged just six months, when he was tied into an inner tube of his dad’s offshore race power, and he has now been a sailor for around two decades.

His previous challenges included solo sails all around Britain, up to Iceland and even the Arctic Ocean.

The marine business owner has even attempted this exact challenge before - three years ago - but he had to turn around on the first day due to a problem.

Andrew explained: “Unfortunately, it was literally two days after my father passed away, and hands up, I'd basically sawed a bolt down too short, so we had to substitute one when we got out to Canada. About 8/10 hours after I set off, I noticed there was a tiny leak coming in the bottom of the boat. In all honesty, I could have carried on but one of my deals with my wife and daughter is that if everything's not 100% you turn back, you sort it and then go again. So I did that but as I took it back into the harbor, I craned it out, and the strops broke and dropped the vessel. It was a case of ‘right, I need to start again’ so that's what I've done because a big part of the whole challenge is inspiring other people to do more in life. Obviously there's an awful lot of people that unfortunately have these dreams and aspirations and never get to do them so I thought, I can't just give up. It's not gonna look good on myself. It doesn't look good on my daughter, who I'm trying to inspire to be more ‘get out there and make your dreams come true’ kind of thing. So it was a case of rebuild, resaw, redo, and this is where we are now, three years later.”

Although Andrew sets off for Canada on May 15, a date for disembarkment cannot be tied down as it is dependent on the weather - for the same reason, a finish date can not be provided but Andrew does have an aim in mind.

Although the record attempt involves the length of the vessel, Andrew also wants to beat the previous record holder’s time too, Hugo Vihlen having crossed in his 5ft 4 inch boat Father’s Day in 105 days back in 1993.

The vessel being shorter will slow it down but it has been optimised to make it sail as fast as possible.

As well as the hydrodynamics, Andrew’s boat is cleverly designed to fit him “like a glove” as he puts it, whilst even his snacks are getting put to ingenious use.

Beef jerky, raisins and fat are all blended together to create 1900 calories bars, which are then vacuum packed, warmed to soften and moulded into the hull which will both strengthen the vessel and more importantly insulate Andrew from the freezing waters off Canada.

With the freezing temperatures, choppy conditions and even the risk of icebergs, the journey is nothing short of perilous but with just under a month away, Andrew told the Post he wasn’t nervous at all.

The father of one said: “I’m excited, I just want to get it done now. The hard bit was building the boat and now it's this stagnant bit where I've had this boat - and the one before it - in my life for six years and now it's gone. The boat's currently on its way and there's literally nothing I can do boat wise. So I'm kind of a bit lost, the first time I've been boatless for six years.

“There's obviously always apprehension because the North Atlantic is mighty, and it's a challenging sea to be in. I've been in some pretty horrendous conditions on there but this boat is designed for them, so it's just going to be a different experience. It’s gonna be like a roller coaster for three months in the bad conditions.”

Andrew instead admitted the hardest thing will be to be away from his wife and daughter who are his “rocks”, but he hopes to have enough power on the boat to contact them using a satellite phone.

As part of his aim to inspire as many people as possible, Andrew and his main sponsor have also just set up an app from which people can track his progress and also commit to doing their own challenges.

Although in its infancy, Andrew says one man has already committed to sleeping in his van for the duration of his Big C Atlantic Challenge.

Another aim of the challenge is to raise money for Cancer Research, with Andrew’s app also containing a page where people can donate.

Explaining why, Andrew said: “One of the guys who previously held the record, Tom McNally, the crazy Liverpudlian sailor, as everyone knew him, he unfortunately died of cancer. Then my parents both died of cancer as well and one of my sponsors has had cancer issues. There's so many people that I know that have had cancer. Previous to this, I've been raising money for the lifeboats but after buying an actual lifeboat and giving them, I think it was about three quarters of a million in all, I’ve decided that cancer, as you get older, becomes more important in people's minds.”

He then added: “But the main thing is I really want to inspire people to get out there and fulfill their dreams. As I said earlier, there's more people I suspect that go to their graves not actually doing what they've said they wanted to do, and it's ever so easy to put stuff off until tomorrow rather than actually get on and do it today. From all the exhibitions and talks I’ve done over the years, I've had some amazing feedback from people. One person was living close to the sea but had never actually swam in the sea and after getting into contact with us, she's doing it every day. So many sailors who have never managed to leave a port on their own but have dreamed of doing it have actually been out there and done it. So it's just getting people to do more, it helps fulfill your life and it's all for better mental health and things like that.”