Communication Breakdown
A British sailor failed in a risky attempt to help a French solo rower who has been facing a communications breakdown in heavy south Pacific seas since the Iridium global mobile phone company went bankrupt. Ellen MacArthur, sailing in the region called the "screaming 50s," changed course to try to bring rower Jo Le Guen a replacement communication system, her sponsor Kingfisher Challenges said. MacArthur, 23, and her crew reached Le Guen's 29 ft. (9 m) craft Keep It Blue in harsh weather conditions with just over two hours of daylight left. Icy squalls with winds reaching 30 knots and turbulent seas made transferring a bag containing a portable Magellan e-mail unit extremely hazardous, the sponsor said.
Chilean Navy Rescues Ailing French Rower
The Chilean Navy picked up French rower Jo Le Guen from a British container ship after he abandoned his bid to cross the southern Pacific Ocean because of illness, the navy said. Jaime Bravo, Naval Commander in Punta Arenas, the world's most southerly city, said the rower was under 24-hour observation in a Punta Arenas hospital. A high-speed boat collected Le Guen from the container ship Palliser Bay, which had picked him up on April 10 after being rerouted to deliver medicine to him. The ship's crew found him gravely ill and raised the alarm. Le Guen was trying to make a solo crossing from New Zealand to Cape Horn in a bid to draw attention to ocean pollution. He contracted blood poisoning after sustaining foot wounds several weeks ago.
