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Btprev.gif - 1.7 K Wayne "Sailor" Dickinson
Courtesy of Al Marzian
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Updated:Wednesday, August 26, 1998
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Wayne "Sailor" Dickinson
March 26, 1983
American's sailing quest ends off Irish coast.

BURTONPORT, Ireland--
American trans-Atlantic sailor Wayne Dickinson, alone at sea for nearly five months, escaped dazed but uninjured yesterday when his bathtub -sized boat was swept onto rocks off the Irish coast.

Dickinson was picked up by a lighthouse attendant, who said he found him crawling along the rocks of Aranmore Island, three miles from the mainland, said British Coast Guard officials at Falmouth, England The attendant, Charles Boyle said Dickinson told him his 8'11" crat, "God's Tear", was dashed onto the rocks in a gale, and he lost all his posessions, including his passport.

Boyle, who is trained in first aid said Dickinson, 39, was unable to walk, and it took two hours to restore normal circulation in his arms and legs. The attendant and local fishermen carried Dickinson to Boyles home, where he stayed overnight. A doctor was summoned from the mainland.

Dickkinson, a computer technician from Satellite Beach, Fla., set out from Hull, Mass, last Oct 30 with no radio equipment, hoping to set a record for the smallest boat ever to sail west-to-east across the Atlantic His destination was Falmouth on Englands southwestern tip, 3,500 miles from Massachusetts. Boyle said he found Dickinson while on a routine check of the automated lighthouse.

"I rushed to his aid immediately and I discovered the he was frightened and dazed." Boyles said. "I assured him that he was safe, and then I noticed he was so exhausted that he was unable to walk.

"I enlisted help of several fisherman who were in the area, and we carried him home."

Boyle said Dickinson told him his boat hit the rocks on the shoreline, and he thought he had landed on the Hebrides off the Scottish coast. The The sailor said that he had not felt lost at any other time during his journey.

Dickinson was first spotted after leaving the United States by the Panamanian-registered freighter Brookness on Jan. 25 1983 about 750 miles east of St. John's, Nefoundland. He was about halfway across the ocean. On Feb, 17, a passing ship relayed a message through Norway saying he was fine,his mother told reporters.

Dickinson was attempting to better the record set by American Bill Dunlop, who reached Falmouth last Aug 29 in a boat two inches larger than "God's Tear". Dunlop made the voyage from Portland, Maine, in 78 days.

"I'm ecstatic," said the sailor's mother. Peggy Dickinson, 60, from her Satellite Beach home. She said she had called her daughter, Belinda Dickinson, a 35-year-old Missouri surgeon, who was flying to Britain.

"I haven't made my reservations,but I hope to fly over tomorrow, maybe." Mrs. Dickinson said. She said she had also called her husband, John, 61,retired National Aeronautics and Space Administration employee who was at the couples house in Little Torch Key, in the Floida Keys.

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© Copyright Al Marzian 1997 All Rights Reserved
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Al Marzian Email: arm3@lex.infi.net
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