American solo sailor Adam Seamans hopes to finally leave Bermuda today after arriving a week ago in trying circumstances after his mast broke.

A freak wave caught him unawares about 300 nautical miles north east of Bermuda and flipped his boat 360 degrees.

A competitive sailor since the age of ten, Mr. Seamans played down the incident which occurred as he took a short nap en route from America to France for the Mini Transat solo boat qualifying races.

“There wasn't a whole lot going on. I was getting beat up in 35 knot winds and eight to ten feet waves. I was in my bunk for about an hour.

“The waves were coming from the east when two waves came from the north east. The first one picked me up and pushed me to the side. The second wave rolled the boat a full 360.”

Strapped into his bunk the 25-year-old American, from Beverly, Massachusetts, was uninjured by the freak waves but they had taken a toll on his boat.

The side railings were bent but much worse - the mast was down.

“It was still attached to the boat so I held it on. It happened so quickly.

“My first thoughts were about a fire because I have a few different fuels on board. I was worried if anything was shorted I would explode. But it was fine.”

Next he had to check if there was flooding but there was no problem there.

“I was feeling frustration because I was really working hard to get over to France for these races.

“I was on a tight time frame, the weather wasn't co-operating and now I had lost the mast.”

After spending hours clearing up he took a short nap before tackling the mast problem.

“I tried to put up the mast but it was too heavy.”

Instead he had to use the spinnaker with a storm tri-sail. Time was of the essence as he raced to catch favourable winds which blew him to Bermuda within four days covering 300 miles at about four knots, an island he had laboured to get around.

Undeterred from the mishap Mr. Seamans is about to embark on the Bar race to the Azores against some other yachtsmen he has met in St. George's.

“There's about five boats in the fleet. We are using it as a safety net to keep in touch.”

He will miss the first races he was supposed to compete in but is still on course for starting the gruelling Mini Transat race for 21-footers from La Rochelle, France which takes in the Canary Islands before crossing the Atlantic to Brazil.

Bermuda's own round-the-world sailor Alan Paris helped out by helping to get Mr. Seamans another spinnaker.

“I have gotten so much support from Ocean Sails. Everybody has really pulled together here.”