Atlantic rower rescued off coast of Land's End in homemade boat

An amateur rower’s attempt to travel across the Atlantic in a homemade boat has been aborted after he was rescued off the coast of Cornwall.

Duncan Hutchison set off on his lone adventure in New York in May and was expected to cross the finish line in Lochinver, north-west Scotland next month.

However, at around 1am on Saturday, and after 100 days at sea, he complained to the coastguard that he had ran into some bad weather and was “battling two-and-a-half metre waves”.

Mr Hutchinson was rescued off the coast of Land's End after the 23ft wooden rowing boat that he spent three years building, started having technical difficulties.

A post on his Facebook page said he was “devastated” that an electric fault on the boat had robbed him of his dream.

"He will be devastated, especially with a technical problem rather than a physical or structural issue of the boat,” the post read.

"Although he's totally dedicated to completing the challenge, today marked 100 days at sea, he's acted responsibly in the best interests of support services, surrounding boats and himself.

"Calling this in was probably the toughest thing Duncan's ever had to do, but is testament to his selfless and professional approach throughout the journey."

A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the coastguard reacted promptly to Mr Hutchinson’s SOS and he and his boat are now being towed back to New York.

"HM Coastguard broadcast alerts to vessels in the area and the man was picked up by a merchant tanker who diverted to the scene."

Mr Hutchison will be donating more than £18,000 he has raised online to charity WaterAid despite not making it to Scotland.