GB Row Challenge: Welsh crewman among 16 rescued in bad weather

An ocean rower has described how he and his crewmates were rescued after they lost control of the boat in bad weather and were in danger of running aground.

Darren Saunders, from Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, was among 16 people on three vessels rescued over the weekend between Wales and Northern Ireland.

He called it "pretty much one of the hairiest states I've ever been in".

They were part of the GB Row Challenge aiming to circumnavigate Great Britain. All were reported to be safe and well.

The teams had left London Tower Bridge on 12 June, with the aim also to collect environmental data.

Mr Saunders' GB Endurance team ran into trouble in gale force eight winds with rough seas off County Antrim on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Saunders said the crew had been watching the weather and riding it out when the storm blew up.

"We found we lost steering control, we were drifting with the tides and the para anchor ended up going," he said.

"Wherever tides and wind were taking us that's where we were going," said Mr Saunders, who left the military for the private security sector after he suffered a broken neck in a helicopter crash.

"We were in constant communications with the Coastguard, and we made the decision to get us off the boat before we hit the Scottish coast."

Mr Saunders, an experienced rower whose team won the 2021 Barcelona-Ibiza NOMAN three-day ocean rowing race, said: "In terms of open water and sea conditions, (it was) pretty much one of the hairiest states I've ever been in.

"As a team we functioned, but personally conditions were very bad."

They were rescued by the Red Bay RNLI lifeboat from County Antrim and a coastguard helicopter from Prestwick in Scotland was also deployed.

The rowers were able to board the lifeboat shortly after 23:00 BST and no one required hospital treatment.

He praised the volunteer lifeboat crew who took them to Cushendall in County Antrim, and said the crew were "blown away by their show of humanity".

"We've been given clothes, food and a house to stay in for now, we have been really helped."

The first vessel to be rescued in poor weather was towed into Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, after its rudder was damaged.

Due to the offshore location and delicacy needed in the towing, the lifeboat was out for nearly 12 hours, arriving with the rowers and their vessel just before 12:30 BST on Saturday.

Another vessel taking part in the same challenge also had to be towed back to land after sustaining damage to its rudder at about midnight on Friday.

Tony Watson, of HM Newcastle Coastguard in County Down, said the conditions had been "particularly rough" and that the incident highlighted how "even the most experienced and well-prepared sea farers can get into difficulty in such weather".