Relieved crew members of a boat battered by ferocious 100 mile per hour winds are recovering in Bermuda after riding out a terrifying three-day storm ? that left them fearing for their lives.

Jessica Webb said boyfriend Xavier Mecoy cheated death after the equivalent of a Category One hurricane hit their yacht. Life on quickly turned into a nightmare for the professional sailor, who was at the helm of the 86ft vessel when 30ft waves crashed in and hurled him against a radar post, knocking down the six-inch diameter pole.

Speaking from St. George?s Dinghy Club, where the boat docked after the harrowing ordeal, Jessica said he was lucky to be alive. ?If he hit his head he would be dead, if he hit his back he would be paralysed and if he?d gone overboard he would be lost at sea,? the deckhand told .

?He?s so lucky he?s walking, talking and breathing.?

She said at the height of the storm it felt like the boat was being ?bombed... then hit by a train?. The American added: ?It felt like a war zone. It was survival mode. The galley was a lake ? it was just chaos.?

At one stage the yacht was tossed to such an extreme on perilous seas it was ?knocked down?, the main mast touching the water before getting back to an upright position.

Jessica, 32, from Texas, said the crew were overjoyed when problems ended. She limped into the Island on Wednesday, allowing the crew to get badly needed medical help for Xavier.

?We weren?t intending to stop in Bermuda,? she added. ?But when we arrived here I just wanted to get off the boat and kiss dry land.?

Jessica and Xavier were part of a five-strong crew heading from Norfolk, Virginia to a winter break in Antigua.

Weather predictions said to expect winds of up to 45 knots ? but the experienced team hit far worse conditions less than a day into the week-long trip.

?There was a storm coming from the south and unfortunately we were heading straight towards it,? recalled Jessica. ?The winds started picking up the next day.

?We decided to go east and try and get out of the way. But we didn?t go fast enough and we got clobbered.?

By last Monday night, three days into the journey, winds were picking up speed and reached 50 knots.

By Tuesday, however, the yacht was being buffeted by sustained winds of 72 knots and gusts reaching 100 mph.

As seas became more treacherous and the crew began to fear for their safety, the vessel lost the 25 foot sport fisherman it had been towing about 200 yards behind.

?We knew it was going to go, it was just a question of when,? said Jessica. ?We were shocked it made it through Monday, but by Tuesday it was long gone.?

The crew made desperate attempts to get the sails down, before a ?wall of water? crashed over the boat and catapulted Xavier into the satellite poll.

Jessica said: ?It blew him sideways and his feet went into some metal railings and damaged them. Fortunately he was strapped in otherwise he would have been overboard.?

Xavier ? who heroically carried on sailing the vessel for almost another hour until the main sail was down ? suffered internal injuries, including badly bruised kidneys.

The 39-year-old was treated in King Edward VII Memorial Hospital when finally staggered into Bermuda.

Now on crutches and in a wheelchair, he is expected to be able to walk again unaided in two weeks. He left Bermuda on Saturday and is currently at home recovering in Rhode Island.

But Jessica said her boyfriend had not been put off sailing despite the harrowing voyage. ?He said he had never experienced anything as painful as trying to move

?He?s determined to go back on the waves,? she said. ?He?s been sailing since he was 12. He?s an ox.?

Jessica also praised skipper Jeff Hanlon, who she said ?did heroic things? to ensure the boat made it safely to Bermuda.is due to leave Bermuda for Antigua on Saturday after storm damage is repaired.