A SAILOR has spoken of his four days stranded in thick fog - just yards from the coastline - and revealed plans to resume his voyage.

Chirpy Alan McKeand said he was happy enough reading a book.

The married father-of-two admitted he had not really been bothered by his four days of isolation, largely spent reading a copy of The Bold Man of the Sea by Jim Shekhdar, who single-handedly rowed across the Pacific.

The 65-year-old yachtsman, from Skipton, North Yorkshire, was on a trip of a lifetime navigating the coastline of the North of England and Scotland when he dropped anchor planning to sit out a spell of thick fog off the coast near Redcar, east Cleveland.

But the fog failed to lift from his refuge - just 150 yards from shore - so on Thursday afternoon, as the weather began to worsen dramatically, the Redcar Lifeboat was sent out to tow Mr McKeand's 22ft yacht, Martha III, to shore.

The retired textile technologist said that, contrary to early reports that his batteries had run flat leaving him unable to call for help, he "simply didn't want to bother anyone".

He said: "They always say don't bother the coastguard unless you really have an emergency and I thought, 'well I've got food, I've got water, I'll be all right'.

"But when I saw this lifeboat chug into view I wasn't going to argue and I want to thank the crew. I'm going to go down to Hull Marina, where I set off, get my car, go home to Skipton for a few days and then set off again around Scotland."