Young sailor rescued off Morocco

Coastguards from Cornwall have co-ordinated the rescue of a young sailor off the Moroccan coast.

Falmouth Coastguard received a distress alert from boatbuilder James Baker in the early hours after his yacht was damaged in extreme weather conditions.

The 22-year-old sailor, who comes from south Devon, was sailing from Portugal to the Caribbean when a storm hit.

The 10m (33ft) yacht Mina was located by an aircraft from the Portuguese Navy about 70 miles from Casablanca.

Radio beacon

The plane directed a commercial vessel to the yacht's position to take the sailor aboard.

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman said Mr Baker, who appeared none the worse for his ordeal, would be dropped off in Gibraltar.

Mark Thomas from Falmouth Coastguard said the safe rescue served to highlight the need for sailors to use emergency position indicating radio beacons (EPIRB).

"Once again this is another incident, where the use of an EPIRB to call for help proved to be immensely valuable," he said.

Mr Baker's father Jeremy said he was extremely relieved his son, who has sailed the Atlantic twice before, was safe and well.

'Moment of panic'

He was contacted by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) at about 0130 GMT saying his son's emergency beacon had been turned on.

"When we first got the phone call there is a moment of panic and then silence as you realise there is nothing that you can do," he said.

"We kept ringing every few hours to find out what was happening and were told James was picked up this morning.

"I've just spoken to him, he's extremely tired and he is upset that he has lost the boat."

Mr Baker said his son had spent the past two years restoring the 1929 gaff rig cutter and had lived on board during that time.

He had been sailing to the Caribbean where he had been offered work.

His father has praised the work of the coastguard and thanked them for their efforts.

"They were fantastic, you read about rescues in the news but you do not realise how far away they can coordinate a rescue and how efficient they can be," he said.