Atlantic row record

The British rower John Searson last night smashed the record for the fastest east-to-west solo crossing of the Atlantic by two weeks when he arrived in Barbados.

Family, friends and a steel band welcomed Searson, a 35-year-old meteorologist, as he completed the 2,800-mile journey in his boat Commodore Shipping, Tenerife to Port St Charles, Barbados, in 59 days 12 hours. Searson, from Jersey, arrived 16 days inside the previous record of 75 days, set between the Canaries and Antigua by Sidney Genders of England in 1969-70.