Rescue ends transatlantic document bid in world’s smallest ocean-going yacht

Lancashire sailor Andrew Bedwell’s try and cross the Atlantic in a ship roughly the scale of a wheelie bin has resulted in rescue after the Canadian Coast Guard retrieved him from waters off Newfoundland on June 5.

Bedwell, from Scarisbrick, had been constructing towards this second for years, as the BBC documented in a compelling profile ahead of his departure. He left St John’s at noon on June 4 aboard his custom-built aluminium micro-yacht Big C V2, aiming to set a Guinness World Record for the smallest vessel to finish an Atlantic crossing. The unsupported 3,200km voyage was additionally elevating cash for Cancer Research UK, after Bedwell misplaced each dad and mom to the illness.

Just two days after setting off, the Canadian Coast Guard was suggested he wanted help. His vessel was roughly 120km east of Grates Cove, on the tip of Newfoundland’s Bay de Verde Peninsula. The CCGS Sacred Bay was tasked from Old Perlican and reached the scene at round 2:15pm native time, safely retrieving Bedwell earlier than bringing him ashore. Big C V2 was deserted at sea.

The document Bedwell was chasing is held by American sailor Hugo Vihlen, who crossed from Newfoundland to Cornwall in 1993 aboard the 1.62m Father’s Day. At 100cm lengthy and 140cm huge, Big C V2 would have crushed that mark with room to spare.

This was Bedwell’s second try. His first, in May 2023, ended hours after departure attributable to water ingress, and Big C V1 was subsequently destroyed when dropped onto a harbour wall throughout crane restoration. As he advised the BBC forward of this try: “Three years worth of work all destroyed in nanoseconds. But there’s no way I can stop.”

Bedwell is an skilled ocean sailor who has beforehand accomplished a solo journey to the Arctic, and designed Big C V2 alongside naval architect Jérôme Delaunay. The boat options twin Dacron sails, a watertight polycarbonate domed hatch, and photo voltaic and battery energy, with most of his meals moulded into the body as vacuum-packed bars.