British rowers rescued after capsize in Atlantic

Nick Rees and Ed Curtis’s participation in the event was cut short when they were rescued at 3pm on Tuesday after their boat flipped over.

They were taking part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

Mr Rees, 37, and Mr Curtis, 38, were yesterday on board the container ship heading for Gibraltar and expect to be home in time for Christmas.

The friends, whose team name is Team Neas Energy, were racing in the event to raise £250,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. They were inspired by Mr Rees’s wife Ellen’s determination to beat the disease after she was diagnosed in 2009, aged 33.

The endurance race has seen 16 teams set off from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to cover some 3,000 miles to Antigua, rowing 24 hours a day in shifts for around six weeks. Competitors, including the Row2Recovery team of servicemen – two of whom have lost limbs – can expect to burn around 8,000 calories per day and lose around 20 per cent of their body weight as result of the physically demanding nature of the challenge.