Sailor rescued after 26 hours adrift in Pacific storm

After 26 hours adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, braving a vicious storm that totalled his sailboat, John Campbell was pulled aboard the 610-foot cruise ship Silver Whisper — the end of a harrowing ordeal that left him with broken bones and his home at the bottom of the sea.

Campbell, a B.C. sailor for decades, was sailing his 27-foot vessel April Alice back from Hawaii in late April when a cold front moving south from Alaska caught him about 600 nautical miles off the Oregon coast. Despite reducing sail, wind and waves intensified until he had to lie ahull — taking down his sail entirely to ride out the storm.

"So I just stayed in the cabin, and I couldn't make anything to eat because it was so rough. I got thrown across the cabin a few times," Campbell said from his daughter's home in North Vancouver, where he's recovering. "If I wasn't braced in 100 per cent with my feet up against one thing, my back against the other, and hanging on with both hands, I'd get thrown across the cabin."

The waves grew so large they blocked out half the sky — something the hardened sailor had never witnessed. After what felt like the storm was passing, he was slammed from his seat to the ceiling and back down to the floor. The impact rolled April Alice 360 degrees and snapped her mast. Campbell pressed the SOS button.

His brother, who was monitoring conditions via the Windy app, alerted the U.S. Coast Guard. Because Campbell was too far offshore for helicopter rescue, the Coast Guard contacted the Silver Whisper, which was nearby. The cruise ship crew expertly pulled alongside and hauled Campbell aboard.

It's the kind of rescue you hope never happens — and the kind you're grateful for when it does.