SEVERE weather conditions forced Lyme’s Atlantic rowers to abandon their Channel crossing after 12 gruelling hours.

The Corinthian Atlantic Challenge Team set out from the town harbour on Wednesday evening to row to Barfleur, France.

The French fishing port is set to be officially twinned with Lyme Regis and the rowers had hoped to deliver local produce as a gift to Barfleur.

Chris Walters, Brian Fletcher, Tony Short and Elliot Dale, who will take on the Atlantic Challenge in December, were expected to arrive in France on Friday morning and arrive back in Lyme on Sunday with produce from Barfleur.

Team administrator Andrew Pocock said: “The conditions on Wednesday evening were challenging. The forecast was not at all good but they decided to have a go.

“They were 12 hours into the row in fairly choppy waters and they got to 15 miles.

“The weather then got worse and they were being pushed back.

“They set out a course towards Portland and then across but they ended up being pushed back towards the Portland Race, the wall of water that flows around the end of Portland.

“If they had gone around that they would have been in trouble and so would the support boat.

“They got to the second waypoint and had to decide whether to make the 60-mile crossing across the Channel.

“The wind blew up and the squalls came in and the tide was running really hard.

“They can only go at three knots an hour and the tide was running at 4.5 knots against them.”

The team decided to turn back at 7am on Thursday, but due to the tides and the winds they had to be towed to keep them away from the Portland Race.

Although the Channel is a shorter crossing than the Atlantic, the team had expected it to be just as tough.

“If you are in the Atlantic it doesn’t matter, you can get blown back any which way and eventually make it across because you don’t have the tight shipping lanes in the same way and the proximity to land,” said Mr Pocock.

The Corinthians were disappointed not to reach Barfleur but learned some valuable lessons.

Mr Pocock said: “For them it was a hell of an experience and they learned an awful lot about the boat, about each other, how they reacted, and how to row at night.

“In view of the difficulty in getting a good window of weather, they probably wouldn’t do a Channel crossing but they will go out for three or four nights along the coast as preparation.

“In terms of rowing produce to Barfleur, it was a useful experience but not one that would be reliable to do again. If the twinning committee wants to do it again they will probably choose a more reliable form of transport.”

The team is training in the ocean-going Oyster Shack, a boat loaned by Atlantic race organisers the Woodvale Challenge while their own boat is under construction.