Russian sailor cheats death after boat capsized and dismasted in the Atlantic

A Russian man will soon leave the Highlands after his sailing boat capsized in the Atlantic Ocean.

Roman Titov's yacht was dismasted after the stern rose above the bow and turned upside down in stormy weather near Rockall, 200 miles off the coast of Scotland.

He was swept overboard, but managed to climb back onto the boat which turned itself back up.

Roman then somehow managed to fit a temporary mast with parts of sails which had been severely damaged.

It took him two weeks to sail into Ullapool, where various members of the community and harbour staff have been helping him.

After initially beginning his voyage in November, he's due to fly back to Russia, beginning his journey from Inverness tomorrow.

"Close brush with death"

Ullapool Harbour Trustee Topher Dawson has been communicating with Roman via Google Translate as he doesn't speak English.

He said: "He set off from Oslo in Norway where he had bought the boat.

"After a certain amount of toing and froing in the North Sea because of storms coming in from the West, he managed to get through the gap between Orkney and Shetland.

"He was heading for the Canaries and then Cape Horn, he was training to gain miles to qualify for a round the world single handed race.

"He got down by Rockall by New Years Day and met an almighty storm.

"In very big waves his boat pitchpoled which means the stern rises above the bow, the boat goes heels over head, turned upside down and came right the way up again."

Wearing six layers of wet clothes, Roman was then able to get himself back onboard using his lifeline, which is a harness lanyard connecting a sailor with their boat.

Topher added: "He had to cut the rig lose, because the broken parts of the mast were hammering against the hull.

"He then had to bail out about a tonne and a half of water with a bucket because his electric pump wasn't working.

"He had to rig up a jury rig with a spinnaker pole and cut down some sails.

"He had a very close brush with death."

"Stuff of Legends"

When Roman arrived in Ullapool, harbour staff were also able to communicate with him using Google Translate, before taking him to the supermarket for supplies.

Two Russian speakers in the village also helped out, with Topher offering to do his washing as he has slept on his broken boat since arriving on January 18th.

Roman's now desperate to get back to his family

Topher explained: "It's the stuff of legends, an ocean going yacht being dismasted and having to rig up a jury rig.

"You read about it in books, but I'd never seen it before.

"There's a lot I don't know about this, but I think he's a very brave and resourceful man to have got himself out of that really dangerous predicament in the North Atlantic in mid-winter.

"It really is not a fun place to be.

"He's been living in the boat for all this time, and although his voyage has been a lot shorter than he thought it would, I think he's probably quite looking forward getting home and seeing his wife and children and telling them all about it."