When the going gets tough, the French call for help

[GalvestonDuck]

Stranded Rower Phones Mom for Help
Wed Jul 30,11:04 AM ET

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Frenchman attempting to row across the Atlantic called his mother for help as he sat atop his capsized boat in rough waters 100 miles off Cape Cod, the head of the Ocean Rowing Society said on Tuesday.

Emmanuel Coindre, who set off for France from the coast of Massachusetts last week, capsized early on Monday due to inclement weather and used a satellite phone to call for help as the boat took in water.

"After five hours (trying to right the boat) he phoned his mother in France who called the French coast guard who called the U.S. Coast Guard (news - web sites)," Kenneth Crutchlow, executive director of the London-based Ocean Rowing Society, told Reuters.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued him on Monday and brought him ashore.

"We are recovering from hours of anguish since yesterday," Sylviane Coindre, the rower's mother, said in an e-mail to Reuters. "As parents we never lost hope."

Coindre has crossed the Atlantic from east to west twice and last year became one of only a handful to row across the ocean the other way.

"Last year he landed in a pretty bad storm," Crutchlow said. "Frankly he got in just in time."

He completed the crossing in 87 days, failing to beat countryman Gerard D'Aboville's record 72-day journey. He set out last week for another crack at the record.

Plans to break the record this year and become the first to cross the Atlantic alone three times seem lost as the row boat is now missing at sea. Coindre spent Tuesday on a fishing vessel searching for his craft.

"It's very unlikely he will find it," Crutchlow said. "I'm not saying it's impossible, but the only way they're going to find that boat is by sh

[PerficktGurl]

OMG!!!! He called his mom for help. That would be so humiliating. I'm embarrassed to call mom and dad on my cellphone when the car won't start