Lancashire sailor Andrew Bedwell’s attempt to cross the Atlantic in a boat roughly the size of a wheelie bin has ended in rescue after the Canadian Coast Guard retrieved him from waters off Newfoundland on June 5.
Bedwell, from Scarisbrick, had been building toward this moment for years, as the BBC documented in a compelling profile ahead of his departure. He left St John’s at midday on June 4 aboard his custom-built aluminium micro-yacht Big C V2, aiming to set a Guinness World Record for the smallest vessel to complete an Atlantic crossing. The unsupported 3,200km voyage was also raising money for Cancer Research UK, after Bedwell lost both parents to the disease.
Just two days after setting off, the Canadian Coast Guard was advised he needed assistance. His vessel was approximately 120km east of Grates Cove, at the tip of Newfoundland’s Bay de Verde Peninsula. The CCGS Sacred Bay was tasked from Old Perlican and reached the scene at around 2:15pm local time, safely retrieving Bedwell before bringing him ashore. Big C V2 was abandoned at sea.
The record Bedwell was chasing is held by American sailor Hugo Vihlen, who crossed from Newfoundland to Cornwall in 1993 aboard the 1.62m Father’s Day. At 100cm long and 140cm wide, Big C V2 would have beaten that mark with room to spare.
This was Bedwell’s second attempt. His first, in May 2023, ended hours after departure due to water ingress, and Big C V1 was subsequently destroyed when dropped onto a harbour wall during crane recovery. As he told the BBC ahead of this attempt: “Three years worth of work all destroyed in nanoseconds. But there’s no way I can stop.”
Bedwell is an experienced ocean sailor who has previously completed a solo journey to the Arctic, and designed Big C V2 alongside naval architect Jérôme Delaunay. The boat features twin Dacron sails, a watertight polycarbonate domed hatch, and solar and battery power, with most of his food moulded into the frame as vacuum-packed bars.
