Failed Trans-Atlantic Rowing Attempt Costs U.S. Tax Payers

Updated: February 5, 2026 (Originally published June 2, 2009)

From The Boston Globe:

French oarsman Charlie Girard failed for a third time yesterday in his quixotic quest to row to France from Cape Cod. And US taxpayers are $80,000 poorer.

That’s the cost of dispatching a Coast Guard jet and helicopter to a 21-foot, custom-designed rowboat bobbing 150 miles off Cape Cod, where Girard called it quits 10 days into his latest aborted adventure.

Fearful and cold in a menacing fog, Girard used a satellite phone to place an 8:25 a.m. distress call to the Coast Guard in Boston.

“I can’t do anything,” Girard, 28, said in a weak, breaking voice. “I’m cold, and I don’t know what to do.”

It seems like exhaustion just 10 days into a 60 day trip is a poor excuse for failure.  Isn’t that the only factor you can train for?

His first attempt to row the Atlantic came in 2007 but was cut short just hours into his journney when water begain pouring into his boat.  He made another attempt days later, only to make it 50 miles into his journey. Now here’s some video

Charlie Girard’s send off on May 19, 2009:

Charlie Girard’s rescue performed on May 29, 2009:

Charlie Girards’s 2007 rescue:

Now it seems that Victor Mooney, a rower and AIDS activist from New York, has been granted permission to use the row boat for his own third attempt at a trans-atlantic trip, that is if he can retrieve it.

Editorial Standards · Corrections · About gCaptain

Subscribe for Daily Maritime Insights

Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update

— trusted by our 107,358 members