French oarsman Charlie Girard failed for a third time in his quixotic quest to row to France from Cape Cod. And US taxpayers are $80,000 poorer. That’s the cost of dispatching a Coast Guard jet and helicopter to a 21-foot, custom-designed rowboat bobbing 150 miles off Cape Cod, where Girard called it quits 10 days into his latest aborted adventure. Fearful and cold in a menacing fog, Girard used a satellite phone to place a distress call to the Coast Guard in Boston. “I can’t do anything,” Girard, 28, said in a weak, breaking voice. “I’m cold, and I don’t know what to do.” Full story here.

Watch footage of Charlie Girard’s rescue and his comments.

And here’s a video of the day Girard took off – still hoping to row home.