- Channel 5's Coastguard SOS: Search & Rescue continues on October 29 at 9pm
This is the moment a yachtsman from France jumped into the English Channel off his stricken boat as a British coastguard crew attempted a death-defying rescue.
The alarm was raised when a French-coded radio beacon was activated in the middle of the night in April last year about 40 miles off the coast of Land's End in Cornwall.
A Newquay-based coastguard team raced to the scene in a helicopter to investigate and found the yacht had suffered damage to its stern, rudder and mast.
The crew also spotted the lone skipper was not moving on the vessel, which was being thrown about in the high seas and turbulent weather - and he then jumped in.
A winchwoman from their team was lowered towards the water to try to save the man as her colleagues warned her to take extra care in huge wave swells.
Video of the extraordinary rescue features in the next episode of Channel 5's hit series Coastguard SOS: Search & Rescue, which continues on October 29 at 9pm.
A preview clip shared with the Daily Mail today shows a night-vision view of the small yacht being flung around by the strong waves on April 8, 2024 just before 10pm.
The dangerous conditions came in the wake of Storm Kathleen which brought 102mph wind gusts to Britain and major travel disruption as well as power outages.
A member of the Coastguard helicopter rescue 924 team can be heard saying: 'The yacht has sustained damaged to the stern, rudder and also to his mast.'
The yacht is found in the Channel having suffered damage to its stern, rudder and mast
The yachtsman jumps into the water as the coastguard helicopter crew race to save him
A winchwoman from the coastguard team is lowered towards the water to try to save the man
The skipper is seen throwing himself off the boat into the sea feet first, as the rescue worker exclaims: 'The casualty has jumped into the water!'
The winchwoman is then seen being lowered down towards the boat as a male colleague says: 'Ready? OK, winching in. Large one coming through, large swell.'
Gasps can be heard from the woman as she is hit by the huge wave - and the man asks her: 'You alright Abi? Abi!'
The clip then ends, but the episode will show that the man was safely rescued.
The episode will also look at the story of the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship which was stranded in Belfast for four months before setting sail in October 2024.
The vessel had been scheduled to leave Belfast in May last year for a three-year, round-the-world cruise but was delayed due to unexpected repairs.
Meanwhile the episode also features a search for an 83-year-old man in Holyhead, North Wales, who goes missing during a walk on a coastal path.
Soon after, a Coastguard rescue helicopter is re-tasked while in flight to a 75-year-old woman who is injured after suffering a fall in Snowdonia.
Elsewhere a team at Dale in Pembrokeshire are tasked with extracting a woman stranded on a beach with severe back pain which has made her motionless.
Channel 5's Coastguard SOS: Search & Rescue continues on October 29 at 9pm
