DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A British man's adventures turns into a life and death drama in the angry North Sea.</s>BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: John Pasmore (ph), trying to be the first to sail non-stop around the British Isles and Ireland solo, when something went terribly wrong. ITN's David Cowen (ph) now has more.</s>DAVID COWEN, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): Clinging to his overturned catamaran, drenched in icy water, John Pasmore was at the mercy of the sea for two hours before help arrived. He thought of his family and held on.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would stand up straight, holding on to rail or something, and I would shout at the sky, and I would say: I am not going to die. I am going to hold on to this keel. I am going to stay here.</s>COWEN: Alerted by a distress signal, a Coast Guard helicopter found the catamaran 18 miles northeast of the Shetlands. A wenchman (ph) was lowered into the gale.</s>CAPT. JOHN ROONEY, SUMBURGH COAST GUARD: The Weather was atrocious. The wind was 60 knots. It was gust to 70. The waves were -- the occasional waves come through 15 meters.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only thing to do was to make sure that I held on to the next second, and then when I had done that, I would hold on for a second after that. The I suddenly heard the noise from behind me, and I looked up, and there was this beautiful helicopter. It was the most lovely thing I have ever seen in my life.</s>KAGAN: I bet it was.</s>HEMMER: Without question, a lucky man today.
Rescue at Sea: British Man's Adventures Turns into Life and Death Drama in Angry North Sea