Rower arrives in Coos Bay after nearly 130 days at sea

COOS BAY, Ore. — A 32-year-old Frenchman who set out alone from Japan in a rowboat 129 days ago arrived offshore today, and a fishing vessel towed him the last 50 miles to land.

Emmanuel Coindre achieved his goal of rowing across some of the stormiest waters in the Pacific, but unfavorable winds and rough water blew him about 400 miles north.

Coindre posted regular updates from his trip on his Web site.

On Sunday, he included this notation: "I am in a hurry to see my family and to walk on the firm ground to revive my legs."

Wesley Trull, a Coast Guard spokesman in North Bend, said a charter boat from Coos Bay was sent to meet the rower today.

"We have kind of been monitoring him for the last week," Trull said. "He's been a couple of hundred miles offshore for the last week. I'm not so sure his progress was moving the way it should, because of the currents. I don't think he was having a good time."

Trull said a fishing vessel, the Miss Linda, ended up towing the rower for the last 50 miles.

Bob Pedro, owner of the Miss Linda, said Coindre spotted Pedro's boat from about seven miles away and called the Miss Linda on his radio. Pedro said he picked Coindre up about 20 miles offshore.

"His original target was San Francisco, so the weather blew him pretty far past his target," Pedro said.

"He was pretty glad to get onboard," Pedro said. "It was a happy-sad occasion."

Coindre's mother and brother met him at the dock in Coos Bay when the Miss Linda pulled in just after midnight, Pedro said.

According to Coindre's Web site, he started his journey on June 24 from Choshi, Japan in the rowboat, which is just over 21 feet long and about 6 feet wide.

In 2002, Coindre became the youngest person ever to row solo across the Atlantic, at the age of 29. He has made five solo Atlantic crossings, said his sponsor, the Swiss watch company Jaeger-LeCoultre.