French stand-up paddler abandons Atlantic odyssey

Frenchman Nicolas Jarossay on Monday abandoned his bid to become the first person to cross the Atlantic solo on a stand-up paddle just hours after he set off on the adventure from Cape Verde.

His team's Facebook page said a technical problem forced the 38-year-old firefighter to forgo the 5,000-kilometre (3,000 mile) odyssey.

"After spending several hours in the water, Nicolas had to be brought back to shore by Cape Verde emergency services," the Facebook post said.

The endurance sports fanatic, who had left the port of Praia mid-afternoon Sunday, received hospital treatment before going to the French embassy to organise his return to France.

The ambitious trip was to have seen Jarossay paddle the specially designed stand-up paddle (SUP) to the French Caribbean island of Martinique in just over two months.

The modified SUP was seven metres (23 feet) long, almost double the length of the classic paddle.

In 2011, US paddler Alex Linnell set a world record on his board by negotiating the entire length of the Mississippi River, some 3,780 kilometres.
Source: AFP