The Pink Lady-sponsored attempt to break the Atlantic crossing record came to a shocking end yesterday, as the boat's crew were plucked from the raging seas by a LauritzenCool vessel.
The four rowers in the Pink Lady vessel had to be rescued with just 370 miles of the 2,100 journey to navigate, as their boat was battered by high winds and rains and eventually snapped in half. They were 39 days into the trip, and well inside the previous 108-year-old crossing record of 55 days.
The break-up of the boat was blamed on a rogue wave by the crew - Mark Stubbs, Jonathan Gornall, John Wills and Pete Bray - who had to cling to a life-raft for six hours before they were rescued by the crew of a LauritzenCool vessel, Scandinavian Reefer.
Gornall said: "A rogue wave caught us with catastrophic results. I just remember hearing it coming. It sounded like an express train and hit the boat like a missile in the dark.
"Suddenly the whole world exploded as I lay in the cabin with John. It was a monster, tonne after tonne of water. The next thing we knew we were under water, fighting to escape the rear of the vessel, which, when we resurfaced, appeared completely smashed."
The Scandinavian Reefer reached the crew at about 8.30am, nearly six hours after the crew had activated its distress beacon.
The Pink Lady was the first four-man ocean rowing boat, heralded as an absolute one-off when unveiled at the London Boat Show in 2000.
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