AN AMATEUR sailor who battled for survival after being flung into the stormy Pacific has relived the terrifying ordeal in a new book.

Andrew Taylor, 47, was taken overboard by a rogue wave during the Clipper 2013/14 Round the World Race last March.

His new book 179W is named after the co-ordinates of the spot in the Pacific – midway between Qingdao, China and San Francisco – where he floundered for 100 minutes before rescue.

On the morning of his accident, they were midway through the Pacific. Mr Taylor, a watch leader and navigator on board Derry~Londonderry~Doire, said: “I had been on deck for five hours and was looking forward to getting below. It was getting rough. There was some really nasty weather closing in on us.”

With waves reaching heights of 10m and winds up to 50 knots, Mr Taylor went to search for tools to remove one of the headsails and was knocked off the side by a wave.

The Wantage resident said: “When I came up, I was not on board. I didn’t have time to hold onto anything. It was the work of a second.”

Lacking a safety line, Mr Taylor was pulled under and struck and spun around by the rudder as the boat moved overhead.

Surfacing with what he thought was a broken leg, he watched the boat vanish into the distance: “At that moment I was overwhelmed by the silence.”

Before long the boat halted and crew members began looking for him, but it still took an hour and 40 minutes before Mr Taylor was rescued. He said: “I made a conscious decision not to look at my watch. I tried to concentrate on staying alive.”

He thought about his daughter, Siobhan, 18, and his mother, whose birthday it was that day: “I thought, I’m not going to die today.”

Oxford Mail:

  • Back onboard safely

Eventually he was hauled aboard but and deeply hypothermic. He, and was wrapped in a sleeping bag and hot water bottles but it took him hours to return to a normal temperature.

Despite the trauma, he chose to stay on until the end of the race: “Getting off would be easy. But I didn’t sign up to do something easy.”

Four months later the crew arrived back in London and came fourth out of the 12 competitors.

He said: “I got to see my daughter again.

"It was one of the single most fantastic moments of my life.”

The Clipper challenge sees adults of all experience levels partnered with a professional skipper on one of 12 yachts, racing 40,000 nautical miles around the world over 10 months.

Previously a keen climber in Chile and Argentina, Mr Taylor threw himself into the 12-week training in Gosport, Hampshire, and set off on the yacht from London on September 1, 2013.

  • Warning: Contains strong language

Mr Taylor, who had worked on the park design for the London 2012 Olympics, said: “I had had years of non-stop work and decided to take a break. I was pretty much an amateur sailor.

“I wanted to do something different. When I was given the opportunity to sail around the world it was too good to turn down.”

Before the fateful tenth race between Qingdao, China and San Francisco, the 53-strong crew had been to places as diverse as Cape Town, Sidney and Rio de Janeiro.

Oxford Mail:

  • Reunited with his daughter in London

Mr Taylor said: “Every time you leave the boat, you leave wanting more and desperate to get back on. I became increasingly devoted to taking part.”

Mr Taylor released wrote 179W shortly after and released it on the anniversary of the March 30 incident. All profits will be split between charities the Ellen Macarthur Cancer Trust and Newmarket Day Centre.