‘We were getting slammed out there’

“WE were getting slammed in every direction. It was like a washing machine out there,” crewmember Joe Finelli said, having spent three hours adrift in notoriously dangerous waters more than 5km from the Fastnet Lighthouse, off Mizen Head.

Speaking after he was plucked to safety by the crew of a Baltimore-based private diving tours vessel, the Wave Chieftan, he said if they had washed up against the Fastnet Rock they would have tried to clamber to safety. “What else could we do?” he said

Finelli was among five crew members that were separated from the capsized vessel as it keeled over.

“We jumped overboard and tried to swim back to the group, but the wind and the waves pushed us back,” the 44-year-old said.

A member of the US Coastguard, Finelli is used to drama on the high seas. Based in San Diego, he patrols the waters off the northern coast of Mexico, conducting drugs busts, rescues and emigration control operations.

Drifting clear of the capsized racing yacht, the five crew, including the Rambler 100’s skipper and owner George David and his partner — the only female on board — spent the next three hours clinging to each other in the water.

“We went over at about 5.30pm. It was rough. The waves were washing right over us and we were drifting right over towards the Fastnet. It was like a washing machine out there. We were getting slammed in every direction,” he said.

Two-and-a-half hours into the ordeal, they spotted a helicopter overhead. Lit up by strobe lights attached to their bright red and orange lifejackets, they could only hope they had been seen.

“We still don’t know if they saw us or not, visibility was so bad out there, but it was getting dark and a lot harder to be seen. 30 minutes later we looked around and saw a vessel coming down a wave towards us. Boy we were glad to see that,” Mr Finelli said.