Somewhere, there's a joke in this story:
Rescued by CG, Girard aborts transatlantic row
By CAPE COD TIMES
May 29, 2009 10:47 AM
A Coast Guard helicopter today rescued French ocean rower Charlie Girard, who aborted his transatlantic row from Orleans to France and vowed he would not make another attempt.
Girard was plucked from his rowboat about 130 miles east of Cape Cod by a helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod.
He was brought to Air Station Cape Cod, where a sad and exhausted Girard said of his failed row: "The problem is in my head. I'm not going to do this."
Girard, wearing his survival suit, told reporters that he would not try to row again to France. He was then placed in an ambulance.
At 8:25 a.m., Girard called by satellite phone to say that he was unable to continue his 3,317-mile transatlantic voyage, according to an e-mail from Lt. Donald Baldwin, a Coast Guard spokesman.
This isn’t the first time Girard has had to be rescued.
In 2007, he was pulled from the Atlantic 50 nautical miles offshore after another failed attempt – an effort that lasted just two days in his custom-designed and equipped rowboat.
Girard set off May 19 in his 21-foot rowboat from the Orleans Yacht Club en route to France.
The 28-year-old mechanical engineer was trying to break the 62-day, 2004 record set by Emmanuel Coindre, another Frenchman.
The sea conditions where Girard was rescued were described as 15-20-knot winds, 5-to-7-foot seas and 49-degree water temperature, the Coast Guard said.
Linear Mode
