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Rower's world record attempt ends in heartbreak

Elliott Webb,BBC Hereford & Worcesterand
Elliot Ball,West Midlands
News imageBBC Lara Vafiadis pictured in front of a purple background. She has long brown hair which is held back by a pair of sunglasses. She is wearing a gold necklace that sits above her light blue and white top. She is wearing a white linen shirt over the top.BBC
Lara Vafiadis admitted her record attempt had ended in heartbreak after their boat's rudder broke over the weekend

A woman's bid to set a world record by being part of a mixed team rowing 5,500 miles (8,851km) across the Indian Ocean has ended in heartbreak.

Lara Vafiadis and her three crew members were forced to abandon their challenge just 1,000 miles(1609km) from the finish line in Kenya, after setting off from Australia in July.

The 36-year-old would have also become the first woman to make the venture but a broken rudder left the crew stranded and at risk of capsizing.

"When I heard that rudder break... the whole team was just heartbroken and I think it will take a long time for us to get over it," Vafiadis said.

She and her three crew mates are now on a cargo ship which came to their rescue and have a 10-day wait until they can get off at Cape Town, South Africa.

Vafiadis, from Malvern, Worcestershire, said it had been an "absolutely wild 24 hours" after their rudder broke on Saturday night at about 03:00 BST.

The crew spent about seven hours trying to fix the problem but nothing would work.

News imageLara Vafiadis Lara Vafiadis, Dr Susannah Cass, Billy Taylor, and Glyn Roberts take a selfie together while standing on a rocky floor.Lara Vafiadis
Vafiadis and her crew were rescued by a cargo ship

"We tried every fix and every bodge, and nothing worked," Vafiadis said.

"Because the sea's state was getting bigger and bigger we had to make a really difficult decision and because of the capsize we had a couple of weeks ago we lost our daggerboard.

"Without a daggerboard and then without a rudder with some really, really big weather coming in for the next 10 days, it would have put us in a really dangerous situation.

"We would have just been constantly capsizing and it would have been incredibly dangerous."

A daggerboard is a fin, or foil, which slides up and down through a slot in the middle of their boat's hull.

News imageYB Tracking Alternative text (alt text): Satellite map of the Indian Ocean showing two plotted routes between western Australia and the east coast of Africa near Madagascar. A red route with directional arrows runs in a straight diagonal line from Australia to Africa, while a green route labelled “Team Brain Waves” follows a more curved path across the ocean. Coloured markers indicate the start and finish points on the Australian and African coastlines. Madagascar is visible to the left of the routes, with the surrounding ocean shown in deep blue bathymetric shading.YB Tracking
When they had to abandon their attempt, the crew were 1,000 miles(1609km) from the finish line in Kenya

They called Madagascar Search and Rescue, who put out a message to all ships in the area to be aware of the stranded rowers.

To make matters worse, Vafiadis said she had just allowed herself to think about the finish.

"We were just 1,000 miles away and the weather was looking quite good for us to get there in about 15 to 20 days," she said.

"We had family and friends arranging to come out and see us.

"It's not the ending we wanted but it's a story that I will remember forever."

Asked if she and her crew would try again one day, she said: "The experience of being rescued is a very difficult one so I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do it again.

"But we shall see."

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