Rower claims Atlantic record

Press, 22 September 1980, Page 34

Rower claims Atlantic record

NZPA Brest, France Gerard D’Abouville, of France, crossed the “fin* ishing line” at the western tip of the French coast yesterday, claiming the longest, fastest solo row across the Atlantic. D’Abouville, aged 35, left Chatham, Massachussetts, on July 11, thus completing the crossing, rowing and drifting, in 72 days. He celebrated his thirty-fifth birthday on September 5 on board the 5.5 m “Captain Cook.” He is estimated to have covered 5200 km. The first solo crossing, west to east, was by Ireland’s Tom McLean in 1969 in 70.7 days, according to the Guinness Book of Records, but he left from Newfoundland and landed in Ireland — a shorter crossing. D’Abouville, a maritime surveyor and delivery captain, made the crossing in an unsinkable boat specially designed for the attempt. An amateur radio operator had a brief conversation with D’Abouville earlier yesterday in which the rower said he was “very tired” and that he had agreed to be towed to Brest after crossing the line. D’Abouville rowed mostly at night, to keep a look-out for ships, and let the “Captain Cook” drift while he slept during the day. The second oldest of the nine children of retired Colonel Count Henry D’Abouville, he hitchhiked around the world in 1969.