A YACHTSMAN who sparked an international search operation after going missing in North Sea for more than a week has been found alive and well.

Coastguards said experienced sailor Charles Pickering, 69, had been battered and bruised following a storm at sea, during which he lost power on board his North Yorkshire-registered 17ft vessel, rendering his radio communication system useless.

Coastguards had spent more than 24 hours searching more than 5,000sq miles of the North Sea between Scarborough and Heligoland, Germany, after Mr Pickering's family raised the alarm on Thursday (July 10).

They had not heard from him since he phoned his son while sailing near the Keil Canal, in Brunsbuttel, Germany, a week previously.

After it was found Mr Pickering's bank cards had not been used for a week, coastguards and German authorities dispatched several aircraft to search the vast area of sea and issued an alert to hundreds of vessels to look out for the yacht Equinox.

When no sighting of the yacht was reported and communications attempts failed, coastguards became increasingly concerned and a general alert was put out to the French, Belgian, Dutch coastguards, and police logged a missing person's alert with Interpol.

Humber Coastguard also took the unusual step of appealing directly to the yachtsman on radio shipping forecasts.

As coastguards were planning how to continue the search yesterday (Friday), they received an emergency positioning signal after the sailor managed to activate the boat's beacon.

After the satelite positioning system passed over the North Sea for a second time, coastguards gained a precise location and a rescue craft and a helicopter found the yacht about 80 miles east of Spurn Point.

The yachtsman was taken aboard a UK-registered vessel and Mr Pickering was due to return to his Driffield home last night (Friday, July 11).

Humber Coastguard deputy watch manager Mark Ellis said Mr Pickering had been unaware of the search operation and that his vessel had been blown way off course by the storm.

Mr Ellis said: "He has been thrown about and battered a bit and is looking forward to meeting his family.

"It is a brilliant result, as often searches of this nature end in tragedy or, even worse, no result at all.

"It is important that yachtsmen planning this sort of passage have adequate communications and log a passage plan with a shore contact.”