Watch: ‘I’m under no illusion that I’m a very lucky man’

Andrew said: “I’m under no illusion that I am a very lucky man. I’m very happy to be here in San Francisco - I need to say thank you to a lot of these guys behind me for the work that they put in for the search and rescue operation.

“I also need to thank Olly Cotterell, the skipper of OneDLL, and the crew of OneDLL who suspended racing to come and assist in the search operation immediately.

“I need to say a massive thank to the Clipper Race team and the work that they did - in particular liaising with my family which is not an easy thing to do.

“They did an amazing job - my family speak very highly of them.

“It was horrific, the storm in particular - it was hard for these guys on the boat, it made the search harder but the storm treated me very badly. It beat me up badly.

“I kept myself really busy whilst I was in the water. There was a lot for me to do a lot for me to concentrate on and what I needed to do to survive.

“The guys on the boat were doing everything they needed to do so it was important I did the same.

“There were a few times I did wonder if I was going to get back on the boat or not but I’m here and on the boat, many thanks to the crew. It was an epic piece of work to find me.”

Mayor of Londonderry, Martin Reilly, who travelled to San Francisco to see the local Clipper, cross the finish line under the Golden Gate bridge in sixth, said: “Without a doubt, your quick thinking and professional response ultimately saved Andrew’s life.

“The excellent training and skills of your skipper and crew contributed enormously to the successful rescue and we are all indebted to you.

“I would like to extend the best wishes on behalf of the people of the city of Derry-Londonderry-Doire to Andrew and wish him a speedy recovery and extend our thanks to Sean and the crew for their continued efforts and support.

“You are continuing to put Derry~Londonderry~Doire on the global map and showcasing our city to an international audience.”

Skipper Sean McCarter said: “It always feels good to arrive into port this time more so than ever not just because it was such along difficult leg but also because of Andrew’s incident. It really puts it into perspective how lucky you are each time you arrive and everyone is safe and well. The morale on board is pretty good, it’s always pretty good, obviously with some worrying moments but the guys dealt with everything incredibly well.

“We took it easy once we got Andrew back onboard probably for around 24 hours – I wasn’t sure how everyone was feeling or how they would react to getting back into race mode but I think it was the best thing for us and once we concentrated on that, we went back to normal and since then it’s been great. We’ve had a good time and a good race. Unfortunately we fell off the back of the weather that the leaders came in on which was a bit unfortunate but we are just so happy to be here.”

Some of the yachts have not seen any other boats for weeks during this leg of the Clipper Race. At times the nearest other humans to the teams were those passing overhead in passenger aircraft or on the International Space Station orbiting roughly 300 miles above the world’s largest expanse of water.

The feet will be berthed primarily at the South Beach Yacht Club, Pier 40 in San Francisco

For music licensing information visit here.