French skipper rescued from capsized boat

French sailor Jean Le Cam was trapped under his capsized boat in freezing waters. AP

PARIS (AP) -- French skipper Jean Le Cam was trapped inside his overturned boat for 18 hours and taking in the freezing, choppy waters of the Atlantic Ocean. He knew the arrival of another sailor's boat was his last chance at survival.

Vendee Globe competitor and countryman Vincent Riou knew it, too. Riou had taken a detour to help out the struggling sailor, outracing a Chilean naval vessel to reach Le Cam.

"I heard Vincent's voice in the morning and thought 'Am I dreaming or not'?" Le Cam said.

When he heard it a second time, Le Cam was felt assured enough to leave the relative safety of his boat, which capsized early Tuesday about 200 nautical miles west of Cape Horn during the around-the-world solo sailing race

"I mean, there's only one shot at this," Le Cam said.

He opened the submerged hatch, allowing items from the boat to float out. He then managed to climb out, grab Riou's boat and get heaved to safety.

"I got out in one movement with the wave. I held on, raised my head and saw Vincent, which was a great moment," Le Cam said.

The two men sounded fatigued but in good spirits when speaking Wednesday by radio telephone to Vendee Globe race organizers, who relayed their accounts of the rescue.

"I could hear his fear in his screams, the boat was slowly sinking," Riou told organizers. "The closer I got, the more risks I took. It would only have taken one (more big) wave for Jean to have been washed away."

The two men were talking by phone when Le Cam's boat suddenly capsized early Tuesday.

After Le Cam sent distress signals, race organizers alerted international rescue services. An oil tanker and two other sailors in the race were rerouted to the area. A Chilean military plane flew over the boat and saw it overturned.

Le Cam was not expected to be reached until the arrival of the Chilean vessel with divers on Wednesday morning.

Instead, the two men were headed to Cape Horn to moor the boat. Le Cam will later travel to Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego.

Riou, who won the last Vendee Globe in 2004 ahead of Le Cam, will consult with organizers about continuing the race. His boat, the PRB, was damaged during the rescue.

So far, 17 of 30 sailors have abandoned the challenging, no stopover race since it began in France on Nov. 9.

The Vendee Globe route travels around the three great capes -- the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn -- marking the southern tips of Africa, Australia and America.

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