Israeli solo sailor Mr. Gabriel Feldman was totally unaware that he was being sought out by the US Coast Guard when he arrived in Bermuda on Thursday.

Mr. Feldman, who has been listed as missing at sea for four weeks, said he only came near Bermuda to get what he thought would be a glimpse of the Island before returning for the next Newport-Bermuda race.

"I didn't know anyone was looking for me. The reason I even came close to Bermuda was because I wanted to see the contour of the Island,'' said the 30-year-old yachtsman.

"I was invited to take part in the Newport-Bermuda race so I wanted to see the geographical layout.

"I decided that I couldn't come in because my funds were low and I wanted to keep going. I came in from the northwest which put me in some very shallow waters. The Bermudian fishing boat Lana J came by and I asked the man on board for some assistance with chart work.'' But a surprised Mr. Feldman discovered he was the focus of a search.

"The man on the fishing boat said that he was going to call Harbour Radio because he thought they were looking for me,'' he said. "I spoke to Harbour Radio and they told me that my brother, who had been separated from me in his boat during a storm, was all right and had been taken to Massachusetts by a fishing boat so he could repair parts of his boat.'' Mr. Feldman added that he and his 25-year-old brother had set out from Boston for an 18-day solo sailing expedition to Puerto Rico.

"We were in two different boats, I was in a six meter 1934 racing boat Tao .

Eighteen hours after leaving Boston my brother and I hit a gale that lasted four days, during which we got separated. That's when the troubles began.'' Feldman added: "I can cope with the trouble at sea, but when my brother got lost I couldn't cope because I was wondering where he was or what had happened to him.

"I had trouble with the radio and we lost contact. My brother and I had a route we were following and since my boat was faster I kept slowing down waiting for him.'' He also said: "I was trying to wait for him going a little bit east and a little bit west but days went by and another storm came.'' Mr. Feldman also said that his boat got beaten badly as it was buffeted by winds blowing up to 40-45 knots and high seas.

"I kept thinking that if I was having trouble, what kind of troubles was my brother having,'' Mr. Feldman said.

He added that several things went wrong with his boat while he was at sea. Not only did he get thrown overboard twice during a storm while trying to fix a broken wire rope, at one point taking two hours to get back in, but his boat also totally tipped to one side and was swamped after coming in contact with what he called a "abnormally high wave''.

"It took 20 hours to get all the water out of the boat. Everything was ruined,'' Mr. Feldman said. "I'm sorry a lot of people were looking for me and spending a lot of money, but I'm grateful.

"I wasn't in distress because I was able to cope with the situation, and I never saw any navy planes.'' SOLO SAILOR -- Mr. Gabriel Feldman's six meter 1934 racing yacht Tao .