A broken rudder forces rowing pair to turn back

AN East Yorkshire rower and her fellow crew mate have had their challenge to cross the Pacific Ocean non-stop halted by a broken rudder.

- By DEBORAH HALL

Miriam Payne, 25, of Market Weighton, and Jess Rowe, 28, from Hampshire, were eight days into the gruelling journey when their boat, Velocity, was damaged in storms. Having encountered issues with steering, the daring duo discovered the rudder of the vessel had “completely snapped”.

They set out from Lima in Peru, on April 8, to row the 8,000 miles (12,875km) to Australia. The women decided, for safety reasons, to return to Lima to get the boat repaired, the BBC reports.

It is not game over for the pair, however. They have vowed to get “back out on to the water as soon as possible”.