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A lone Atlantic rower, Hugh King-Fretts, 36, yesterday explained how his 2,600-mile voyage nearly ended in disaster
— just 500 yards off the reef-strewn coast of Barbados.
He was exhausted after the 100-day row from Tenerife, when a giant wave hurled him from his 30-ft boat
"Hulu" into the treacherous surf.
The Exmoor farmer, who eventually hopes to row the Pacific and Indian Oceans as well, had to swim more than a quarter of a mile to safety on Wednesday.
Mr. King-Fretts, who runs a 124-acre hill farm at Lynton, North Devon, resting yesterday in Barbados Hilton, said he was so seasick four hours out of Tenerife that he drifted helplessly through the shipping lanes.
"About 700 miles out I was hit by a week of westerly gales. There was nothing I could do but lie there night and day and get blown back east."
"My morale was a bit low. After 42 days at sea, I was only 700 miles from where I started
- with nearly 2,000 to go."
"I rowed day and night for two weeks to make it up. My radio broke down in the first fortnight."
Food ditched
He had to ditch his perishable food after it was soaked by seawater. Despite existing on half-ration for the last month, he was practically out of food by the time he reached Barbados.
"When I finally caught a glimpse of land, I thought it was St. Lucia. Fishermen told me it was Barbados but I was on the east side, which has treacherous surf."
"They towed me into a narrow channel but a large wave tipped up the boat and threw me into the surf. I was several hundred yards out, struggling in the water. A fisherman swam out to me until together we swam into safety"
HOME AND DRY: lone Atlantic rower Hugh King-Fretts, a 36-year-old farmer from Lynton, Devon, pulling his 30ft. boat Hulu into Bridgetown harbour, Barbados yesterday, 100 days after setting out from Tenerife in the Canary Islands 2,600 miles away.
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