ONE of the largest operations ever carried out by a New Zealand rescue team saved the life of a Grays yachtsman.

John Masters, 59, of Dell Road, was racing around the world in the Global Challenge yacht race when he fell critically ill 600 miles from land forcing his team, Imagine It Done, to withdraw from one leg of the competition and embark on a race to save his life.

The crew were on the second leg of the gruelling race -- between Buenos Aries and Wellington -- when John fell ill after falling onto a bunk bed during a period of turbulent weather in the inhospitable waters of the South Pacific.

His condition became so bad that skipper, Dee Caffari, was left with little option but to pull out of the race and switch on the yacht's motors in a desperate attempt to get within range of a rescue effort.

The yacht motorsailed to the remote New Zealand dependency Chatham Island, as the medical expert on board, David Roche, tended to the increasingly fragile John, who was hooked to an intravenous drip.

Other teams in the race also had to give up their ambitions of winning and help John by handing over their drug supplies after Imagine It Done's antibiotics ran out.

Within six days the crew managed to get within helicopter range and a unit from New Zealand's Westpac Rescue eventually airlifted him to safety after a delay caused by heavy cloud cover. From the Chatham Islands he was transferred another 400 miles to Wellington, on the country's mainland.

More than 100 people were involved in the rescue effort, which was the third longest rescue effort ever undertaken by a New Zealand rescue team.

Dave Greenberg, Chief Crew member of the Lifelight -- the rescue team, said: "The combination of the wind and waves made the lowering of our paramedic to the yacht very difficult but this was completed thanks in a large part to the crew of Imagine It Done who helped pull the paramedic onto the yacht." John, who is a New Zealander by birth, was re-united with his wife Lorraine on the desolate Chatham Islands and even managed to walk over and embrace her -- with a little help from the flight crew.

Before John left these shores in October he spoke to the Gazette about the race, which is famed for going the 'wrong way' around the globe, and he could hardly contain his excitement.

He said: "I've got my special sea-sick tablets and as long as I have them I'm ready for anything. I'm certainly not scared. Once you are on the yacht you just get on with it."

John remains in Wellington hospital with his condition said to be stable.