The first distress signal arrived around 2 a.m. A second beacon began transmitting from the same part of the Atlantic. Attempts to reach the rower by message and radio did not establish contact.
Benoit Bourguet, a forty-seven-year-old Belgian competing in an Atlantic rowing race, had moved into a life raft after his boat capsized.
The Coast Guard’s January 22, 2026, account places the emergency approximately 1,100 nautical miles east of Puerto Rico. The Benoit Bourguet rescue would require a commercial tanker to divert for more than twelve hours.
Benoit Bourguet: A signal without a conversation
Bourguet’s single-person rowing boat, City of Liverpool, was taking part in the World’s Toughest Row from the Canary Islands to Antigua. According to the rescue release, it was reportedly struck by two rogue waves in seas of thirteen to fifteen feet.
He deployed and boarded the raft, keeping the overturned boat attached to it.
Coast Guard watchstanders received an emergency-position beacon alert, followed by a personal locator beacon signal. They contacted the race safety coordinator, who confirmed that repeated messages to Bourguet had gone unanswered.
Another race boat made radio calls without getting a reply. The emergency signals were providing a position even while the people coordinating the response could not obtain a direct conversation with him.
The Coast Guard used the AMVER mutual-assistance system to contact the tanker Horten. The ship diverted roughly 110 miles from its route toward the beacon position.
A very large ship beside a very small raft
Horten’s crew eventually sighted the life raft and confirmed that someone was aboard. Heavy seas complicated the final recovery. The crew used a life ring to bring Bourguet safely onto the tanker.
He was dehydrated but otherwise reported in good health. He told rescuers he had been in distress for approximately twenty-four hours.
The Coast Guard noted that the first beacon had been unregistered. The response still brought him to safety, but the record shows the extra work of confirming the emergency through the race organization and maintaining a position through the signals.
The overturned rowing boat remained tethered nearby while electronic signals carried his position beyond the raft. Radio calls to Bourguet went unanswered as a tanker spent hours closing the distance.
The race had set a destination thousands of miles away. Once the boat capsized, Bourguet’s immediate destination became a life ring lowered from the side of a tanker.
Sources and reporting
Researched reporting: an original narrative based on the published records linked below.
