One of four rowers rescued after their boat capsized in a choppy Atlantic Ocean over the weekend said they are grateful they managed to stick to their “number one rule: don’t die.”
Former Canadian men’s eight rower Adam Kreek, a gold medallist at the Beijing Olympics, was part of the four-man team rescued after the distress signal on their 29-foot boat was activated early Saturday morning.
Kreek was making a transatlantic trip alongside fellow Canadian Markus Pukonen, and Americans Jordan Hanssen and Pat Flemming.
The team was on Day 73 of an 80-day, 6,600-kilometre journey from the west coast of Africa to Miami to promote environmental conservation. They were about 600 km north of Puerto Rico when a massive wave hit their vessel, causing their boat to capsize despite having been designed to right itself if it overturned.
Kreek told CTV News from Puerto Rico that the waters weren’t as rough as they had been on previous days of the journey.
“We were in seas which were not even close to the biggest seas we had been in,” Kreek said. “We essentially got two boxy waves that just moved our boat in an unfortunate manner and flooded our cabin and turned us upside down.”
According to voyage spokesperson Greg Spooner, the rowers were found safe after their life raft was spotted by a U.S. Coast Guard plane.
Spooner said he was contacted by the Coast Guard in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 3:50 a.m. PT Saturday when the station received a distress signal from the “James Robert Hanssen” boat.
"We are extremely grateful for the services of the United States Coast Guard, and all other agencies involved in the successful location and rescue of the four rowers," Spooner wrote on the expedition’s blog. "They put their lives at risk to save ours."
Dubbed the Canadian Wildlife Federation Africa to the Americas Expedition, the trip-- which coincided with the International Year of Water Co-operation by the United Nations-- was not only an attempt on a world rowing record, but was also intended to be a scientific journey. The boat was carrying scientific equipment and the crew was gathering data as part of an initiative sponsored by the Canadian Wildlife Federation.
The intended journey from Dakar, Senegal to Miami, Florida followed years of preparation and planning, including time training in the rough waters off Vancouver Island.
“These guys seriously prepared and mitigated those risks, and the fact that they’re alive really goes to show they had planned well and executed those plans really, to be honest, perfectly,” Kreek’s wife told CTV News from Victoria.
Kreek said the crew is disappointed they didn’t reach their destination, but are relieved to have survived their ordeal.
“Even though we didn’t get our biggest goal getting to Miami, everyone came out alive, which is the number one rule: don’t die,” Kreek said.
The crew members lost their passports in the incident, and so will have to spend some time in Puerto Rico while they sort out the paperwork.
With a report from CTV’s Atlantic Bureau Chief Todd Battis
