This December Tom and Tom undertake the challenge of a lifetime… to row unassisted across the Atlantic Ocean

Independent Newspaper

Two rowers whose boat was capsized by a freak wave have swapped Atlantic gales and stomach-churning swells for warmth, luxury and lobster after being rescued by one of the world’s finest cruise liners.

The transatlantic rowers, Briton Tom Fancett and Dutchman Tom Sauer, spent 10 hours adrift in a tiny life raft before being picked up by the Crystal Serenity early yesterday morning. The men, both 23, were just nine days into the Talisker Atlantic Challenge, a 3,000-mile endurance rowing event, when their 28-ft long vessel was hit by a massive wave 480 miles south-west of the Canary Islands and sank.

“Tom and myself were just changing places,” Mr Sauer, a student at St Andrews University, said. “The ocean was quite calm. Suddenly our boat was rocked by an enormous wave the size of which we had never seen before. Our boat was thrown over and capsized. We desperately tried to turn the boat back up again – but to no avail. We are very disappointed but very happy to be alive – and very grateful to our rescuers.”

The life raft’s emergency locator beacon was picked up by HM Coastguard at Falmouth on Tuesday night. They issued an emergency call to all boats in the area. Four responded, but it was the 820ft-long Crystal Serenity, en route to St Martin in the Caribbean from Tenerife, that was quickest to the scene. The Bahamian-registered ship has 13 decks, a crew of 655 and 535 state rooms. Passengers enjoy silver service and “international, contemporary cuisine” prepared by professional chefs.

The ship’s operators, Crystal Cruises, said that the crew would “pull out all the stops” and treat them to lobster, steak and champagne.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073976/British-rower-Tom-Fancett-spends-terrifying-night-life-raft-boat-sinks.html

Transatlantic rowers rescued after boat is struck by ‘enormous wave’

Briton Tom Fancett and Dutchman Tom Sauer rescued from life-raft by cruise ship 500 miles south-west of Canary Islands

James Meikle
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 December 2011 10.24 GMT
Article history

Tom Sauer (L) and Tom Fancett before their translatlantic attempt
Image from TeamTom’s Facebook page showing Tom Sauer, left, and Tom Fancett before their translatlantic attempt

Two transatlantic rowers, one of them British, have been rescued from a life-raft after their eight-metre boat capsized eight days after leaving the Canary Islands for Barbados in the 2011 Atlantic Challenge race.

Student Tom Sauer, 23, who is Dutch but has lived most of his life in Russia, and his friend Tom Fancett, also 23, from London, were picked up by a cruise ship nearly 500 miles south-west of the islands early on Wednesday, having been forced to abandon their boat which was struck by “an enormous wave”.

In a dramatic message to race organisers Sauer told how the pair were changing places in the boat when disaster struck on Tuesday evening. “The ocean was quite calm. We were in great spirits after the first eight days in the race. Suddenly our boat was rocked by an enormous wave, the size of which we’ve never seen before. Our boat was thrown over and capsized. The cabin flooded.

“We desperately tried to turn the boat back up again but to no avail. In fact our PS Vita/TeamTom boat started to sink. We managed to get the life raft and life jackets out during some very nervous and difficult moments. We entered the life raft and saw our dream literally sink in the ocean.

“We floated for about 10 hours in the night on the life raft until we were rescued by the Crystal Cruise ocean liner. We are obviously very disappointed but at the first place very happy to be alive and very grateful to our rescuers. We are now heading for St Maarten and will come back with a full report shortly.”

Falmouth coastguard, which co-ordinated the rescue, said the emergency beacon from the men’s boat was triggered at 7.54pm on Tuesday, 480 miles from the Canary islands. The nearest ship, the Bahamian-registered cruise ship Crystal Serenity was 120 miles away.

“The Crystal Serenity turned back and proceeded at speed through the night to the position and within seven miles of the position they spotted a red flare,” a coastguard spokesman said.

“Shortly afterwards at about 6am they located the two rowers in their life raft who were recovered on board the cruise ship. The two rowers are reported to be uninjured despite at least 10 hours in their life raft. Conditions on scene were 25 knot wind with a three-metre swell.”

Sauer is in his final year of studying modern history and management at St Andrew’s University, and had hoped to be the youngest Dutchman to successfully navigate the Atlantic Ocean. Before leaving on the adventure, he said: “Since being a little kid I have always loved the ocean and spent a considerable time on sailing boats, resulting in me sailing across the Atlantic with my dad. For me rowing the ocean is the culmination of my love and respect of the sea.

“At the same time I am very conscious of how lucky I am; as a kid I was always able to pursue any sports I wanted, this is why I am very passionate about raising money for the Johan Cruyff Foundation, a charity that provides sport activities for children with disabilities and for children from less fortunate backgrounds.”

Fancett, says on the pair’s TeamTom website: “It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why I want to do this and I probably give a different response each time I am asked. Though being the competitive person I am the great personal challenge and the race aspect definitely appeals.

“People say that it will be a ‘life changing experience’, though to be honest I don’t fully understand what that phrase means. However I know that I want to test my boundaries and find out what 60 or so days at sea will do.”

The pair were taking part in the Talisker Atlantic Challenge and set off on 4 December from San Sebastián de la Gomera, on the Canary Island of La Gomera, to row “Columbus route” across to Port St Charles in Barbados. They had received encouragement from rower Steve Redgrave, whose friend James Cracknell teamed up with Ben Fogle for the 2005-6 race in which they too could have lost their lives when their boat capsized.

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We received the following report from Tomskl:

At apr 8.00 pm last night (dec 13) Tom and myself were just changing
places. The ocean was quite calm. We were in great spirits after the
first 8 days in the race. Suddenly our boat was rocked by an enormous wave-
the size of which we’ve never seen before.
Our boat was thrown over and capsized. The cabin flooded. We desperately tried to turn the boat back up again- but to no avail.
In fact our PSVita/teamtom boat started to sink.
We managed to get the life raft and life jackets out during some very nervous
and difficult moments. We entered the life raft and saw our dream literally sink
in the Ocean. We floated for about ten hours in the night on the life raft until we were rescued by the Crystal Cruise Ocean Liner.
We are obviously very disappointed but at the first place very happy to be alive and very grateful to our rescuers.
We are now heading for St Maarten and will come back with a full report shortly.
We wish all the other Woodvale participants best of luck!’

Good news from PSVita/teamtom. Boys were able to fix autopilot with tie ribs and all is working fine again. Will need refixing every few days but that’s ok.
Tomski reports continued heavy winds up to 25 knots. This creates serious waves. Maximum speed surfing on one of those waves 18 knots!
Thrilling feeling! No whales, dolphins or ships in sight. They clocked 59 nm over the last 24 hrs- very well given the autopilot troubles.