ELECTRICAL fires, tattered sails and a snapped mast were among the calamities facing Tony Butterworth as he sailed across the Atlantic.

Amateur sailor Tony was among the crew racing across the ocean from the Cape Verde Islands to Barbados.

The first problem occurred early in the race when one of the main spinnaker sails was torn to shreds by the wind. “With constant winds we flew the spinnaker all night until a sudden squall caught the helm unaware and within seconds the sail was in tatters — beyond repair,” said Tony, of Church Lane, Cawthorne.

Despite the damage the crew sailed on — until midway across the ocean, and about 1,000 miles from land, the yacht burst into flames and wiped out all the electrical equipment and navigational aids. Tony said: “A piece of equipment burnt itself out but instead of blowing a fuse it completed a circuit which caused other wires to overheat.

“Cables started to melt and other wires to ‘short’. In the end, all the wires went up in flames. You could not see anything, it was totally dense smoke.”

The blaze started at about 1am and coincided with a crew change. “If it had happened later we would have had two dead crew because they would have been asleep in the smoke. In that respect we were lucky.

“Survival was paramount but everybody stayed calm and the skipper and one of the mates were able to fight the fire using fire blankets.”

The skipper spent 19 hours’ fixing essential equipment enabling the yacht to carry on sailing. Then the spinnaker pole snapped — but rather than causing deflation the adversity brought the crew together.

"When the pole went it was not, ‘Oh my God’, it was how will we repair it. People came together. The experience was fantastic, the people on board were unbelievable.

“The more problems we had, the more we gelled as a unit.”

Tony raised £3,000 for Barnsley Samaritans through sponsorship for the race. He asked for any outstanding cheques to be sent to him but made payable to Barnsley Samaritans.