A French couple forced to return to Bermuda while sailing to the Azores after a violent storm destroyed their sailboat's mast are full of praise for the efforts of Bermuda Radio.

Claude Laurain and wife Sabine Laurain sailed to Bermuda for a 15-day stay on April 21 on sailboat Albatros IV. They departed Bermuda on May 5 to reach their home in France, via the Portuguese islands. But they did not anticipate mother nature's fury.

Prior to setting out, the couple, who have been sailing the world for 55 years, knew that there was a cold front nearby but believed the conditions would be tolerable — but they were wrong.

"The forecast was good," said Mrs. Laurain, 62. "We knew we had to pass through a cold front but the forecast said it wouldn't be too strong and the winds no more than 30 knots (34 mph).

"The first day was perfect as was Tuesday. But the winds became stronger on Tuesday evening and we decreased the size of the main sail... we saw that thunder was coming and that meant that the cold front was too."

During the height of their encounter with the weather, which saw 43 knot winds (49 mph), she described bolts of lightening repeatedly striking the exterior of the boat.

"Thunder was everywhere and we found ourselves under water spouts. At one point we were under this big cloud which brought more thunder and lightening."

But it wasn't until the early hours of Wednesday morning, hundreds of miles from Bermuda, when things got even worse. Waves were becoming larger by the minute and one even engulfed the boat and flooded the cockpit.

Then, a freakish gust of wind snapped their mast in three places. Starting to worry about the vessel and their lives, they tried calling Bermuda Radio for help multiple times but got no answer.

However, a nearby cargo vessel did hear their calls and responded. It turned out the couple were using the wrong frequency.

After the crew on the cargo ship gave them the correct radio frequency, they were able to get in touch with the operators at Bermuda Radio who first offered to send someone to rescue them.

But Mr. Laurain politely declined the rescue offer once he realised the boat had sufficient fuel to travel back to Bermuda on its own.

"The engine worked perfectly," recalled Mrs. Laurain.

"Bermuda Radio then contacted us every six hours to check on us. They asked for an update on our position since our GPS was damaged and they inquired about our health and well-being."

From the Azores, the Laurains were planning to head to Gibraltar then to France via the Mediterranean.

In the meantime they are uncertain about what they'll do next.

Staying on their boat which is anchored in St. George's, they are currently waiting on the arrival of an agent from their insurance company who will asses the damage to their sailboat, it's mast and propeller. But the repairs process could take months, they said.

The couple plan to fly out of Bermuda at the end of the month and return to France while their yacht is repaired. "We'll probably have the boat shipped back," explained Mrs. Laurain.

Yesterday, they said they had recently applied to the Department of Immigration to stay in Bermuda and are awaiting a response.

Mr. and Mrs. Laurain are the parents of four children back in France.

Before taking up sailing full-time, Mr. Laurain worked for the French government in their environmental department.

"The boat is very good and strong," noted Mr. Laurain. "If it wasn't strong or were made out of plastic instead of aluminium we wouldn't be here — we'd be at the bottom of the sea.

"We just want to thank the people at Bermuda Radio, we think they do a very nice job. We're touched by their compassion and friendliness because they comforted us while we were at sea, which allowed us to do what we had to do.

"We are very thankful for them taking the time in trying to understand us and for the rest of our lives, we will never forget them."