British adventurer abandons Antarctic rowing bid

British adventurer Oliver Hicks has abandoned his bid to row around Antarctica after 83 days at sea, partly because of the poor performance of his 200,000 pound 287,000 US dollar state-of-the art boat.

Hicks said on his website that progress had been too slow and to continue at his present rate it could take five years to reach his goal.

"It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that we will be suspending the Global Row in New Zealand," he wrote.

"The main reason is our incredibly poor progress.

"We are also now very apparently moving into winter and it is not recommended to winter in the deep south in any vessel -- let alone a wee red rowing boat."

After making the "bitterly disappointing decision" to call off the expedition, Hicks said he had given himself a holiday on Easter Sunday.

Hicks, who had drawn multiple sponsors for his expedition including Virgin and Google, had set out from Tasmania in mid-January in his boat dubbed "The Flying Carrot".

He originally planned a 22-month voyage to row around Antarctica, including a winter lay-over from July to October on the island of South Georgia off South America.

However, after nearly 12 weeks at sea he had covered 1,600 nautical miles but only completed 800 miles in straight-line distance.

"Thus our mileage made good is miserable," he said in his blog.

"In large this poor progress is down to problems with the boat ... We had anticipated making about 1,000 nautical miles a month as per my Atlantic boat but evidently this has not been borne out."

Four years ago, at age 23, Hicks became the first person to row solo eastbound across the North Atlantic -- a 124-day trip -- and remains the youngest person to have rowed across any ocean.

He said he intends to make landfall in New Zealand on his present voyage and will look at plans to re-launch his global row at a later date.







A Palestinian youth rides his horse at sunset. AP Photo/Adel Hana

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