The trip of a lifetime across the Atlantic Ocean ended abruptly for a Toronto man last week when stormy weather forced him and his crew to abandon ship.<\/p>\n
Neil Hetherington, a crew member\u00a0and CEO\u00a0of the Daily Bread Food Bank, said he’s\u00a0“terribly” disappointed by the outcome of his voyage on the\u00a0Boundless, a 38-foot cutter. None of the four people\u00a0on board\u00a0was injured.<\/p>\n
The Boundless set sail from Baddeck, N.S. on June 5 with the aim of reaching the south coast of Portugal, a 6,600 kilometre trip, a month later.<\/p>\n
Hetherington had gone on the trip to take on a challenge, disconnect from the world and see the beauty\u00a0of the ocean. The goals were lofty,\u00a0but they were\u00a0not to be.<\/p>\n
In a phone\u00a0interview with CBC Radio’s\u00a0Metro Morning<\/em>\u00a0on Monday, Hetherington said\u00a0the Boundless was in the middle of the ocean\u00a0when a storm hit.<\/p>\n Speaking from the bridge of the tanker, about 600 kilometres east of New York City, Hetherington said the Boundless encountered strong winds and waves about six metres high.<\/p>\n “We had an excellent sail from Baddeck going over a thousand miles and were right in the middle of the Atlantic. A\u00a0wave hit the boat in a fashion that snapped our rudder. The rudder is made of aluminum, it’s a heavy duty aluminum rudder, and it snapped in half and it was parallel to the surface of the water. We knew at that point that we were in complete distress.”<\/p>\n Geoff Fairbank, the captain, and the crew, which includes Hetherington, Marty Cameron and Alan Dalquen,\u00a0called out a MayDay. The Ardmore Sealifter, an oil tanker, about 30 kilometres\u00a0south of the boat, changed course and the captain turned the 215 metre\u00a0tanker to make it parallel with the sailboat.\u00a0Then a\u00a0ladder rope was dropped down about 12 metres.<\/p>\n “We had seconds to hustle ourselves on board,” Hetherington said.<\/p>\n “Shortly after that, the mast of our boat hit the hull of the tanker and was snapped. But all of the crew are safe. It was unexpected, it was unplanned for, but we were prepared. We knew what to do in this type of event. It’s just been terribly disappointing.”<\/p>\n As for the Boundless, it was lost at sea.<\/p>\n Now, with some to time to reflect on the trip as he looks out on the vastness of the ocean, Hetherington said\u00a0he feels guilty for “the pain and the distress” that he caused his family.<\/p>\n He said\u00a0Fairbank, his cousin, worked for years to organize the trip and it was all for naught.<\/p>\n When Hetherington called home in the midst of the near disaster, he spoke with\u00a0his brother.<\/p>\n “I tried to be as matter of fact as I could. I said: ‘We’re abandoning ship. The vessel is lost. And we expect a rescue effort to begin immediately and to hopefully finish within the next few hours.’ They had a few hour period where there was obvious concern.”<\/p>\n In an earlier interview with\u00a0Metro Morning<\/em>\u00a0in late May, Hetherington said: “Every precaution that we could take, we have taken.”<\/p>\n At that time, Hetherington noted\u00a0that it was a good thing that a lot of cargo ships were out there on the ocean.<\/p>\n He didn’t know how right he was.<\/p>\nYears put into organizing trip<\/h2>\n