Sailor tells of fight for survival

A British sailor has told of his dramatic fight for survival after being thrown overboard from a capsized yacht in a savage storm in the Bay of Biscay - and how his attempt to save the life of his skipper failed.

Richard Heath, 23, was forced to swim for hours after he and his skipper Alasdair Crawford, 24, plunged into the water.

Mr Crawford died despite his friend clinging to him through the storm and repeatedly trying to keep him breathing with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Waves repeatedly crashed over the pair, and Mr Heath was unable to pull his skipper to shore.

Mr Heath said: "Alasdair had been reassuring me we would be fine.

"I said to myself 'You're not going to die here, this is not the right time' and I kept swimming to shore."

But the sailor, from Romsey, Hampshire, became so cold had to drag his crewmate on to a rock and head for land alone. He reached the beach and passed out. By the time he had come round, Mr Crawford's body had been washed up and found by rescue services.

Mr Heath, Mr Crawford and a third crew member, Mick Dieperink, 17, had abandoned a threeday trip to Spain - the first leg of a transatlantic trip to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.

But as they returned to Port Olona, next to the town of Les Sables d'Olonne, last Saturday, a huge storm tossed their 50ft yacht around in the water, before a 45ft wave capsized the vessel.

Trapped underneath the boat, Mr Heath and Mr Crawford were forced to sever their lifelines to struggle free.

Mr Heath, who also lost his lifejacket, said: "I went under and swallowed a lot of water. When I finally surfaced a minute later, I couldn't understand how the boat was 100 metres ahead of us."

Mr Dieperink, from Bussum, near Amsterdam, had managed to clamber back on to the ship, which had righted itself. But the two Britons continued to drift away from safety.

Mr Heath said: "We got within 15 metres of the boat but the waves pushed it away faster than we could swim. We kept talking to each other, saying, 'We can see the boat, we're OK' but we soon lost sight of it."

After another hour of swimming, the pair saw a rescue boat and huddled together, holding each

other for warmth until the boat arrived.

"But because I didn't have my lifejacket on I kept going under and slipping from his grasp, so I had to keep swimming," said Mr Heath.

Mr Heath picked out a red light on the horizon and swam towards it.

He said: "Throughout the ordeal I kept repeating Alasdair's comforting words like a mantra - it was him who gave me the strength not to lose hope.

"But Alasdair was getting very cold and started to slur his words.

"He was having difficulty communicating and then another massive wave broke over us."

When Mr Heath swam back he found his friend unconscious.

Cold and exhausted, Mr Heath had to lift his friend on to a rock and crawled to shore. He found a holiday park with caravans, but it was deserted.

Mr Heath said he passed out and when he came round, at 8am, he discovered his crewmate's body had been found by rescue services.

Meanwhile, Mr Dieperink was rescued from the Reliance AC boat about 400 metres from the shore.

Mr Heath's father, Nigel, thanked his son's saviour.

He said: "Remember, Alasdair was the one with the lifejacket. By staying with my son, he saved his life."

Despite their experience, both survivors intend to continue sailing and to write a book about their ordeal, called In Remembrance of Alasdair.

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