Sailor saved in dramatic rescue after his yacht was sunk by a whale 300 miles from land in the mid-Atlantic Ocean
David Bowes and his crew had to be rescued when the whale hit the yacht causing water to seep into the vessel
A SAILOR has told of his dramatic rescue after his yacht was sunk by a whale 300 miles from land.
David Bowes was returning from the Caribbean and had survived two storms when he was suddenly thrown sideways in calm water.
As David got up off the deck he saw the whale’s ten-foot tail within “touching distance”.
Hours later water started coming through cracks in the hull. David, 61, of Pocklington, East Yorks, and his two crew were rescued by a merchant ship off the Azores in the mid-Atlantic.
He said: “I felt a strong judder and knew we’d hit something. It was almost as if we had been punched.
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Then I saw the huge tail fluke of a whale sticking out of the water.”
He added: “We are so grateful to all involved in the rescue.”