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Home at Last!























Back On Dry Land!

The Scilly Boys are now safely back on dry land in Gibraltar. Puffin and Francis Moore from European Pensions Management, Amanda Claridge and Simon Chalk from Woodvale Challenge, Alec Collyer from BBC Spotlight and Jim Lyddon from the Isles of Scilly, boarded the Gulf Grace at just after 18:00 hours (local time 16:00 GMT) to meet with the Scilly Boys and the crew. Shortly after 19:00 (local time 17:00 GMT) they took the boys back down the ladder that they had scalled in mountainous seas and took them back to dry land.

Once again we would like to thank the crew of the Gulf Grace for bringing the Scilly Boys back safely and also to all the authorities in Gibraltar who have ensured the smooth transition off the vessel and into the country.











They're Coming Home!

The Scilly Boys are flying back to the UK from Gibraltar on Monday 23rd June and will be catching the Scillonian back to St Mary's on Tueday 24th June.

The Scillonian leaves Penzance at 09:15 and is due to dock in St Mary's at 11:55.

See you there!!!






New Destination - Gibraltar

It has been confirmed that the Scilly Boys are now heading towards Gibraltar instead of Amsterdam and are expected to dock at 00:00 Saturday 21st / Sunday 22nd June.

A Glimmer of Hope

One of the Argos beacons onboard the 'Scilly Boys'has resumed polling. What this means is that the boat has either re-righted or the beacon has floated free.

Both Falmouth Coastguard and the United States Coastguard have been provided with this information in order to warn vessels in the area.

We would like to thank Ocean Rowing Society International and CLS Argos for their assistance in providing this information.

A Huge Thank You from the Scilly Boys

Firstly a huge thank you to the entire crew of the oil tanker ‘Gulf Grace’ who done an outstanding job in rescuing us and manouvering the 228 mtr ship in alongside our raft on  2  occasions, this was in 40 ft seas and 45+kts of wind. We are also indebted to both Falmouth Coastguard and the United States Coastguard for organizing the rescue operation.

 We are sorry to friends and family that the anxiety caused was not outweighed by the successful completion of our record attempt. The desire to complete the crossing for the Islands was the same desire that gave us the drive to survive in those conditions throughout the night. The messages of support were a constant reminder of why we needed to survive our ordeal, and make it back home to our families.

Again, we are all in good health, and receiving first class treatment from the entire crew of the Gulf Grace, and Gulf Energy Maritime. 

See You Soon Wayne, Tim, Chris and Joby

Bound for Amsterdam

The 'Gulf Grace' on which the Scilly Boys are now safely aboard is on route bound for Amsterdam.

She is due into port on the 22nd June 2008.

The Saddest of News

It is with deep regret that we need to inform you that the Scilly Boys challenge has come to an abrupt end.
 
Details are still coming through and will be posted as soon as they become available, the following release holds the basic information. Above all, and most importantly the guys are safe and well.
 
We would like to give our special thanks to both Falmouth Coastguard and the United States Coastguard as well as the crew of the rescue teams involved, for their prompt and professional service which has led to the teams safe rescue.

US Coastguard Search for the Scilly Boys
14th June 2008

  Saturday 14^th June 2008. Concern was raised for the four crew aboard the 29 foot Atlantic Ocean rowing Boat ‘Scilly Boys’ after Falmouth Coastguard received a iridium call at 01:00am BST from one of the crew members. The call indicated that the boat had capsized, 420 nautical miles east of Cape Cod and all four crew were in the two cabins.  

Chris Jenkins, Tim Garrent, Wayne Davey and Joby Newton were attempting to row across the North Atlantic from New York, United States of America to the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom (3,100 nautical miles). The team had left Liberty Landing Marina on the 1 June 2008 in a bid to break the longest standing ocean rowing record set in 1896 by Harboe and Samuelson of 55 days.  

The United States Coast Guard, Norfolk, Virginia Rescue Coordination Centre, coordinated the search, a merchant vessel ‘Gulf Grace’ was diverted to the rowing boats last known position and a search aircraft (Hercules) was scrambled to assist in the search. 

James Instance, Watch Manager, Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, says:  

“We have been assisting the US Coast Guard in any way that we can. We were anxious to receive a position update for the boat as we last spoke with the crew at 01:00am and requested that they should activate their beacon, which we picked up only once at 02:20am. The weather conditions on scene were north north-east winds 7 – 8 with a 3 –4 metre seas and poor visibility. The Crew were located by the aircraft and taken aboard the ‘Gulf Grace’ at 08:00am – we understand all four are relatively safe and well – suffering slight hypothermia.” 

Simon Chalk, Woodvale Challenge Ltd, Comments: 

‘We are hugely relieved that the guys have been rescued and are safe and well, so many thousands of people from around the world have watched their epic challenge and will share in our sadness that their voyage has been cut short’

Euan Roger on behalf of key sponsor Tresco Estate, comments: ‘We are all very relieved to hear that Chris, Tim, Wayne and Joby are safe and well. Their challenge has captured the imagination of the world and it is very sad indeed that it has come to an early end. We look forward to giving the men a rousing welcome back here in the Isles of Scilly nonetheless!’

Wednesday 11th June / Thursday 12th June 2008

Wedsnesday 11th June

What a last couple of days we've had. As I'm sure everyone is aware from our progress chart on the website, Tuesday was a bit of a challenge as we had a tough decision to make. Making very little headway into 25k headwind, or resting on the power anchor and losing ground. We spent 3 hours with the words of the great Mackenzie Oliver rattling around in our heads which were 'just smash into it'!...but we only managed around 1.5 miles in that time.To our surprise the anchor held us well going off track NW 3 miles in approx. 5 hours.

This turned out to be a pivotal moment over the week as we had the opportunity to log on to the woodvale message board for the first time.

It was hugely uplifting to read supportive messages from friends,families and even people we had never met. Nice to know the boys at Falmouth Coastguard are keeping an eye out for us too! Re-enthused and re-energized from the positive thoughts and wishes we took a new steel to the task at hand.

Wednesday morning started with our very own episode of the 'Blue Planet' as a host of sea birds gave us a clue that something was up. About 50 yards away slow, methodical dorsal fins could be seen, with a few coming over to investigate our ship. Up ahead we noticed a small group of birds with there heads in the water. We cruised through the middle of the group and noticed fins collecting. Suddenly an explosion of fins and tails, as the well co-ordinted attack saw a dozen dolphins launch into a leaping school of mackerel. The frantic splashing increased as the dolphins beat the fish with their tails before all hell broke loose as a number of 200lb+ tuna joined the onslaught, jumping feet out of the water within touching distance of our boat.
As quickly as it had began it was over, leaving the splayed group of birds scavenge the debris from the feeding frenzy. Not a bad sight ten foot astern 400 miles from land!

The wind is changing and the north atlantic drift is getting closer so expect the mileage to increase as we back on track for the records!

Scilly boy's

Thursday 12th June

Yesterday morning saw the start of yet another hard day. With winds gusting up to 25kt from the SE we decided to put our sweep out to the port side in the bow and row two hands on top 'Newquay Style'! We made good progress throughout the day, and after 8 hours the wind decreased and moved to the SW, so back to rowing with a pair. After a long night with some decent ground covered we managed another 69 mile day(thats 3 69 mile days now in total, 70+ is seeming very elusive), which now puts our total mileage over the 600 mark, not bad considering the unfavourable conditions experience far.

Joby and Wayne have changed the name of their 10pm - 1am shift from the 'Shift of doom' to the 'Johnny Cash hour'! Listening to a bit of 'ring of fire' seems to be helping them through the night!

Chris' night shift is kept lively by putting dolby's eclectic music collection on shuffle, whereas Tim has learnt to row asleep!

The beard comp is hotting up, with joby's goatee looking a front runner 6-1 fav.

Scilly boys

Day 10 - Tuesday 10th June 2008