A FORMER Royal Marine commando who endured five hurricanes during a doomed world record sailing attempt has said that he was “ready to die”.

Adventurer Dom Mee says it is a miracle he survived an expedition to become the first person to cross an ocean in a kite-powered craft after it accidentally coincided with Hurricane Rita.

His 14ft boat ‘Little Murka’ had already been battered by the tail ends of four hurricanes when it was finally capsized by Rita.

Mee, from West Buckland, was left clinging to the upturned keel for more than five hours, constantly being washed overboard by 95mph winds and enormous, 60ft high ocean swells.

Exhausted, suffering from hypothermia and with no chance of rescue for at least 24 hours the sailor said he “made peace” with dying and did not struggle as the next wave swept him under water.

But by a twist of fate, the force of the storm brought Mee back to the surface and also righted the boat, allowing him to swim to shelter until help finally arrived.

The full story of his survival against the odds is told for the first time in new memoir Kiting the Hurricane, which has just hit the shelves.

The married father-of-three, who is now based in Sri Lanka, says it was the “most terrifying”

experience he has ever encountered.

He said: “If I’d known that I was sailing into the worst hurricane season in history then I would I have turned back.

“As a commando I have been trained to survive in any environment, but I’m not ashamed to admit this was too powerful a foe.

“My body was starting to shut down with hypothermia and as I was thrown into the water again I remember thinking ‘this is my time’. I just let go, accepting my fate and sinking into the depths.”

Mee spent 15 years in the Royal Marines, during which time he learned to sail and became a trophy-winning Formula One yacht racer with the Royal Navy offshore sailing team.

Upon leaving the Royal Marines in 2002, he became a professional yachtsman and adventurer.

In August 2005, Mee set off in Little Murka from St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada and expected to cross the 2,000-mile stretch of the Atlantic Ocean to the Devon coast within five weeks.

Mee’s EPIRB (emergency position indicating radio beacon) distress signal was picked up and he was rescued by Canadian Coastguard vessel ‘Cygnus’.

But his brush with death failed to quench his thirst for seafaring adventure. In 2007, Mee led a four-man team to row the Atlantic in one of the fastest times in ocean rowing history.