A rescued sailor believed he was going to die when he was caught up in a storm between Bermuda and Florida.

Friends Dimitriy Telyagov, Tom Browning and Douglas Halcrow did not know the drama in store when they left Florida for Saint Martin aboard Mr Browning’s sailboat, Vayu, last month.

Mr Telyagov, 52, explained: “Captain Tom didn’t want to spend winters in northern California, where it is sometimes snowy, but in Saint Martin.

“He rented a place there and invited us and said we could stay in the boat with him or cruise around the different islands and explore.

“I was dreaming of getting my sailing licence down there because it was so easy and to have an experienced captain and to sail through the Atlantic was very exciting for me.”

The voyage started off as normal but extreme weather conditions and a broken pump caused several problems aboard the 44-foot yacht on the second day.

Mr Telyagov said: “Our sail got loose and ripped. We tried to grab it but it was impossible because the wind was already so strong. It was not safe to go there.

“We tried to pull down our sails but the wind got inside and just slashed them. It was like somebody slashed napkins with a blade.”

He added: “On the second day, it became almost impossible to steer against nature and this force. That’s why we lost the steering, because the cables gave up.”

This was just the beginning of the crew’s troubles — Vayu started taking on water and the three were forced to tie a flashlight to a compass after her navigation system stopped working.

Mr Telyagov recalled: “It feels like you’re in washing machine because the wind is just changing direction drastically, in a sense blowing steady without any gusts.

“But then the boom is flipping from one side to the other and the boat is leaning right and left.”

He claimed the extreme weather and problems aboard Vayu started after she entered “the Bermuda Triangle“ and that his mind, as well as time, seemed to stop as he spent days bailing water from the vessel.

He explained: “When nature is stripping away all these layers, you’re so raw, that way you can have a straight conversation.

“I had this conversation. I didn’t ask God ‘please save me’ and didn’t scream; I thought ‘maybe this is my last day’.

“If you feel this is the last day, I’m going to make the best out of it and bail until my last breath until my muscles stopped working and I’m going to close my eyes.”

The crew issued a mayday call through Channel 16, the VHF international distress channel, for one or two days before receiving a response on February 1.

A US Coast Guard aircrew found the vessel at 8.30pm that day and dropped a pump attached to a parachute and line from the aircraft to assist the men.

Mr Telyagov said: “I saw the parachute but it was 200 feet from the port side and after ten seconds it was already gone because the wind is blowing on you.”

Crude oil tanker Radiant Pride located Vayu about 470 miles west of Bermuda and rescued the sailors after several attempts early on February 2.

Mr Telyagov said: “For normal people, outsiders, the Radiant Pride crew were just a crew of people working on this boat. But for us they were angels who saved us and they worked so well with the US Coast Guard.”

Vayu sank after the rescue and Radiant Pride, bound for Spain, dropped the three sailors off in Bermuda on February 4, because Mr Halcrow needed medical assistance.

This was the third maritime rescue near Bermuda this month — the bulk carrier Genco Burgeonesaved three men stranded east of the island on February 2 and local freighter Bermuda Islander picked up former Olympic windsurfer Demetris Lappas, who was en route to Bermuda when his boat Alcyon Blue was damaged, on Tuesday.

This was Mr Telyagov’s first time on the island. He and Mr Halcrow stayed at the Bermuda Sailors’ Home in Hamilton, while Mr Browning stayed with the son of someone he had sailed with decades ago.

Mr Telyagov was the last of the three to leave Bermuda. He flew back to the US yesterday and thanked everyone at Bermuda Sailors’ Home and throughout the island for their kindness and hospitality.

He reflected: “I love Bermuda. There are such great people, many of them angels. I know for sure right now.

“There’s cute grandmas and grandpas, people are so talkative and so helpful. You can ask for directions and people would lead you or just invite you somewhere, it’s amazing.”