FOUR sailors are today lucky to be alive after they were dramatically rescued from their capsized boat in the Solent - having spent nearly 12 hours adrift.

The group of friends - two men aged 50 and 48 and two women both aged 32 - were finally rescued by lifeboat crews after spending the entire night huddled on the upturned catamaran. They had only just bought the boat for nearly £20,000 on Saturday.

Their lucky break came after a worker at Lepe Beach - where the yacht had drifted to - heard three of the crew singing happy birthday to the fourth member shortly after 7am.

The worker phoned the emergency services and the RNLI all-weather rescue boat from Calshot rushed to the scene and hauled them to safety.

RNLI staff said the two men and two women were lucky to escape with their lives and had only done so because they had been wearing the correct safety gear and had stayed with their boat.

The four sailors had spent more than eight hours stuck on top of the 9m long catamaran 'Antares' which had capsized after the mast broke at around 8.30pm on Saturday evening.

All four were suffering from hypothermia when they were finally picked up by the RNLI boat 'Arun' and emergency services rushed them straight to Southampton General Hospital for further treatment at around 8am on Sunday.

The sailors had been on their way to Waterford in Ireland from Portsmouth. It was their first journey on board the yacht.

However, bad weather had forced them to change their plans and head to Lymington, but the disaster struck before they reached the safety of the harbour.

Alan and Janis Holmes from Fareham sold the boat to the owner on Saturday after sailing it for 12 years.

Alan said: "It's very sad to see it like this, it's really just quite a shock.

"I heard on the radio that there had been an accident involving a catamaran going over and we thought, 'surely that couldn't be ours could it'?' but then we phoned the coastguard and they confirmed it was."

Janis added: "It's such a fright to see it like this.

"It was always my worst nightmare while we had the boat that something like this would happen.

"We know the boat had capsized once before, before we owned it, but to see it hull-up like this is a real shame, but at least the owner and crew are OK."

RNLI coxswain Dave Wilson who was skippering 'Arun' when she went to rescue the crew, said: "We got a call to attend a long-boat with four rowers, but once we got there it soon became apparent that it was an upside-down catamaran.

"They had been on it for at least 12 hours and had probably travelled the whole length of the Solent and back on the tides by the time we reached them.

"But, they did the right thing by sticking with the boat and ensuring they had protective clothing on and lifejackets - which is something that definitely saved their lives."