GB coastline rowing team returns to Tower Bridge

The team arrived at Tower Bridge on Friday

A team of rowers raising money for charity has returned to Tower Bridge.

Team Albatross, which contains Olympics triple gold medallist Andrew Triggs Hodge, had hoped to row about 2,000 miles around Great Britain's coastline without interruption.

However, they had to be rescued from the Irish Sea amid stormy weather on 27 June, two weeks after setting off.

"The world's collapsing around me right now," Mr Hodge said. "I haven't had an emotional surge like that forever."

Speaking at St Katharine's Dock in east London, Mr Hodge said he was "exhausted".

He said: "I've just seen my boys for the first time in six weeks. I missed them enormously and it takes a toll to be away from the family for that long."

The team was on the only crew to complete the journey, even though it wasn't an uninterrupted row as planned

The team raised money for Active Row, a programme run by London Youth Rowing.

Mr Hodge added: "It supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through sport, getting them active and nurturing life skills and encouraging them to develop and challenge themselves and hopefully take a little bit of inspiration from crazy stuff like this."

In threes, the six rowers rowed for two-hour shifts to complete the journey. The project was four years in the making.

Throughout the five-week trip, which included 27 days of rowing, they also took water samples to determine pollution levels and map biodiversity.

Two other crews were forced to abandon their adventure due to poor weather, which also ruled out a world record bid.

Will de Laszlo described the stormy conditions as "unprecedented for June" and thanked the coastguard and RNLI Red Bay lifeboat crew in Cushendall, Northern Ireland, who said they hadn't seen June weather like that for 38 years.

The team set off on 12 June hoping to break a Guinness world record

He said: "To see the vision of getting three boats safely around the UK collecting critical environmental data decimated in the space of 72 hours was heart-breaking.

"That being said, one boat is now safely round with an inordinate amount of data on board for Portsmouth University to evaluate.

"We are looking for experienced and environmentally motivated teams to give this a go next year."

Kat Bruce, who was Team Albatross's on-board scientist, described the trip as "mind-blowing".

She said: "It was phenomenal to see the richness of the British coastline and to realise the importance of protecting it.

"We had about 10 different whale sightings. I never expected that. The sheer beauty and diversity of the Western Isles of Scotland, to the Yorkshire cliffs which were stunning.

"It was like another world. It's a real privilege to see that coastline from a perspective that almost nobody does."

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