Coast guard rescues sailor off Newfoundland attempting transatlantic record

A Newfoundland flag flies in Rocky Harbour, N.L., on Sept. 4, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

ST. JOHN’S — The Canadian Coast Guard has rescued a sailor attempting to set a world record for the shortest boat to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

In a statement, the coast guard said it was advised on Friday morning that the sailor of a 1.2-metre vessel needed help.

The coast guard says the boat, called the Big C Atlantic Challenge, was about 120 kilometres east of Grates Cove, a small town at the tip of eastern Newfoundland’s Bay de Verde Peninsula.

The statement says the CCGS Sacred Bay rescued the sailor at around 2:15 p.m.

The coast guard says the Sacred Bay brought the sailor to Old Perlican, N.L., also on the Bay de Verde Peninsula, but the Big C Atlantic Challenge boat was abandoned.

The Big C Atlantic Challenge website says the sailor was attempting the record-setting transatlantic journey to raise money for cancer research.