their yacht Masquerade while in the middle of the ocean.

Shortly after arriving in local waters around noon yesterday the men, captain Peter Collins, Brian Muggleton and a third who would only give his name as Dave, were relaxing in St. George's after a tough few days at sea.

The men joked that the only thing they had not seen during their 72-hour struggle to make it to Bermuda was a hurricane.

After leaving the Dominican Republic for Bermuda on April 1, the Masquerade was alternately becalmed and then beset by fierce squalls while on its due north track.

In conditions described as "totally horrid'' a reefer sail -- hoisted to control boats in rough seas -- developed a tear as the 51 foot boat was tossed about.

Crewman Dave then set about repairing the tear, a process which took three hours.

Some time later the reefer was shredded by winds which the men said were of Force Nine strength.

But it was when their steering mechanism failed and the standard back-up proved inadequate on Wednesday the men decided they had best try to motor in.

After some rough calculations they found they did not have enough fuel to make it to Bermuda and decided to sound an alarm.

They had nothing but praise for the "good blokes'' at Bermuda Harbour Radio, the crew of a US Coast Guard aircraft, and the crew of a nearby catamaran, the Emerald .

The Emerald's crew -- Finns Santdu Tsutsunan and Jaakko Korkeila -- coordinated the monitoring effort and a mid-sea refuelling with the liquid propane gas carrier, the Clipper Hearald .

Mr. Collins said: "Thanks to them all. Without their assistance, we would not have got in.'' An electrical engineer with 20 years experience on the high seas, Mr. Collins added: "The Masquerade is a strong boat but those were some strong squalls.''