Rower to reprise Atlantic trip

Emmanuel Coindre will try again to beat the 72-day record from America to France.

By ERIC WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER      

CHATHAM - He's back to row his boat to France. Emmanuel Coindre plans to launch Lady Bird, his 6-meter fiberglass vessel, as soon as a global tracking device arrives from overseas.

If all goes as planned, he hopes to depart from Stage Harbor on Tuesday.

Last year, Coindre made the Chatham-to-France trip in a grueling 87 days. He braved tropical storms and a hurricane during his solo row, capsizing many times during the voyage.

It was estimated that Coindre stroked his oars nearly a million times during the arduous passage. And now he's ready for another go.

"My goal is to reach the French coast and return home with my rowboat," said Coindre. "If there is a record, why not? But it is not the first motivation."

According to the Ocean Rowing Society, the solo trans-Atlantic west-to-east rowing record is 72 days, set by Gerard d'Arborville in 1980.

Coindre, a Frenchman, is staying at the North Chatham home of Geoffrey and Jane MacDonald while he awaits the arrival of an Argus radio beacon, which can pinpoint his location if there's trouble at sea.

"I'm very prepared," said Coindre. "But for me, a big storm is very dangerous. There are not a lot of solutions."

Coindre was hopeful that the beacon would clear French customs and arrive in Boston on Monday.

In the meantime, Coindre has been rowing six to eight hours a day around Chatham to keep up his chops.

"He's in extraordinary shape," said Geoffrey MacDonald. "He's the Lance Armstrong of rowers."

A countrywoman of Coindre's is already well on her way across the Atlantic in a rowboat. Maud Fontenoy left the islands of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon, located just south of Newfoundland, on June 13, bound for France.

A peek at her journal entry from Thursday shows that crossing the Atlantic is no picnic:

"The oppressive heat is making Maud's task difficult. At the hottest hours of the day, it becomes exhausting. Sometimes, when the sun is very high and the sky is almost white, Maud has the feeling of being in a lifeboat after a ship sinking, adrift on a vast ocean, desperately trying to get back to land."

Indeed, recent history proves the adventure can lead to tragedy.

Chicago cardiologist Nenad Belic left Chatham in May 2001 for a trans-Atlantic trip in a rowboat and encountered a storm on Sept. 30, just off the Irish coast. Though his boat was found several days later by Irish fishermen, he was never seen or heard from again.

On the Web: The Ocean Rowing Society: http://oceanrowing.com

(Published: July 19, 2003)