An unmanned boat crashed into rocks off the Isle of Wight hours after it was launched in a bid to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Retired NATO scientist Robin Lovelock’s 5-foot boat he named Snoopy Sloop set sail Tuesday from the coast of Hampshire, England.
But Lovelock says its tracking system placed it on land near The Needles at 18:45 GMT.
He blamed a strong tide for pushing the boat eastwards and hoped, if it was undamaged, it could restart its quest to reach the Bahamas.
“A launch an hour earlier, or from a few hundred yards further west, and he might have made it past The Needles,” he told the BBC.
It is thought no unmanned boat has ever crossed the Atlantic.
