British daredevil Andrew Bedwell is preparing to embark on a grueling voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in a boat the size of a wheelie bin. Standing six feet tall, Bedwell will be unable to lie down flat during the journey. He aims to break the world record for the shortest vessel to cross the Atlantic.
Planned Route and Duration
Bedwell plans to depart from Newfoundland, Canada, in mid-May and expects the nearly 2,000-mile (3,218 km) journey back to the UK to take approximately three months. He will travel without any support vessel.
Motivation and Charity
The boat repair shop owner, from Scarisbrick, Lancashire, is partly motivated by raising funds for Cancer Research UK, having lost both parents to the disease. His micro-yacht is named The Big C Version Two.
Describing conditions aboard the tiny vessel, Bedwell said: “When the conditions are bad I’m seated, and what I’ll be doing is I’ll be fully harnessed into the boat with my hands, my elbows, everything harnessed. When the conditions are good, I can stand up, open the hatch and stand up. I’ve got a host of exercises to do.”
Provisions and Preparation
Most of his food will consist of beef jerky, raisins, and fat condensed into bars, which are vacuum-packed and molded into the boat’s frame, providing extra insulation and strength.
The experienced sailor, who has previously completed a solo journey to the Arctic in another small boat, acknowledges the risks. He stated: “It's like everything. If you slowly increase your levels you get used to what you feel comfortable with. So outside the boat looks awful, but from inside the boat it’s actually not that bad. It’s quite comfortable, I shall say, for a while. It's not the best of places to be but it's an amazing challenge and it's what I do. I do like challenging myself.”
Previous Attempt and Setback
This is Bedwell’s second attempt after an earlier effort was abandoned due to a leak. In 2022, 12 hours after launch, the first version of the yacht began taking on water from around a bolt. He returned to port, but as the tiny yacht was being winched out of the water, it dropped and smashed onto concrete, damaging it beyond repair.
Bedwell, now 51, recalled: “Three years worth of work all destroyed in nanoseconds. But as I said, I’m trying to inspire others to do things, so I decided, well, there's no way I can stop. So what we did, we came straight back to the UK, built another boat and three years later we’re here at this point ready to go again.”
Broader Mission
Part of his drive is to inspire others: “It’s a tool for me to fulfil my dreams, which is to get the world record for the shortest vessel to cross the Atlantic. But also, we're using it more so to get people, maybe just to open their front door and say hello to someone, or for someone to swim 100 metres. Anything. So, that's the bigger picture of the whole challenge.”
