Rescued Surfer: 'I'd Pretty Much Made Peace With It All'

The 23-year-old Scottish surfer rescued Monday night after 32 hours adrift at sea says he was prepared to die as he faced the prospect of a second night spent clinging to his surfboard, the BBC reports. "I was watching the sunset, and I'd pretty much made peace with it all," the Press Association quotes Matthew Bryce as saying. Bryce was surfing Sunday morning when "relentless" winds and tides carried him out to sea. He yelled at fishing boats for help but they didn't see or hear him. His first night at sea was "incredibly lonely and quiet." "I didn't think I would see sunrise," Bryce tells the BBC.

Bryce spent Monday close to passing out and falling off his board. As the sun set, Bryce says he "knew" he wasn't going to survive. That's when he was spotted by a helicopter 13 miles from the coast. "These guys were the most beautiful sight I had ever seen," Bryce says. The helicopter had been searching for Bryce for five hours, the Telegraph reports. Bryce calls everyone who joined the search for him "heroes." He's currently recovering from hypothermia and says he doesn't think he'll ever go surfing again. (More lost at sea stories.)