Six sailors will today relaunch their epic 1200-mile voyage from Norway to France in the wake of the Vikings - after an unscheduled stop in Fraserburgh courtesy of a Scottish lifeboat.
Their bid to sail from Bergen to Nantes was nearly scuppered on Tuesday night when their longboat was swamped by a wave and was
in danger of sinking.
The French crew of the Thorvald had to be taken aboard the lifeboat which managed to get a line aboard the 27ft vessel and tow it to safety.
Yesterday, none the worse for their ordeal, they were making minor repairs to their ship and the VHF radio which had been knocked out before preparing to sail again.
The pine and oak-hulled Thorvald got into difficulties about six miles north-west of Fraserburgh as worsening weather and impending darkness made it too hazardous to try to head for its intended destination of Macduff, in Banffshire.
The 45-ft Foy-No, which was escorting it across the North Sea, raised the alarm and an RAF Sea King helicopter was scrambled with the Fraserburgh and Macduff lifeboats.
Skipper Yannick Favro denied they had been foolhardy trying to cross the North Sea in such a small boat without an engine.
''We are not crazy. We have good experience around the sea and the mountains. We had safety equipment and liferafts,'' he said.
Mr Favro, 42, who runs his own leisure company organising outdoor activities, explained they intended to sail through the Caledonian Canal and down the west coast before heading on to Nantes.
''In this boat the waves normally come inside and we bail the water out. When we had another big wave over the VHF, it was our main problem, and for me it became very difficult and dangerous to continue my trip. The harbour master at Macduff told me to go to another port,'' he said.
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