UNDATED -- A man trying to cross the Atlantic in a 23-foot rowboat didn't get too far before having to be rescued by the Coast Guard.
Charlie Girard set off Wednesday from Cape Cod. The 26-year-old Frenchman was hoping to establish a new record for the fastest Trans-Atlantic crossing in a rowboat.
Last night, however, the Coast Guard says Girard called a friend on a satellite phone and said he was caught in five-to-eight foot seas and 15-knot winds about 50 miles east of Provincetown.
The friend -- Richard Williams of Orleans -- contacted the Coast Guard, which dispatched a helicopter to hoist Girard to safety.
A medical officer reported that Girard had been "thrown around quite a bit" and that his lower back was hurting.
The rowboat remains adrift at sea.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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