Most seasoned windsurfers develop a sense for danger. Some can smell peril on the wind while others can feel it in the turn of the tide. Adam Cowles, however, only began to suspect something was wrong when the shoreline behind him vanished and he passed a huge cargo ship. It was then that the university technician realised he may have ventured a little too far from Swansea Bay.
He decided the best course of action was to press on and three hours later his odyssey through the freezing waters of the Bristol Channel came to an end on a beach in Devon, 40 miles from where he had started. Mr Cowles, 24, stumbled ashore in Woody Bay, near Lynton, north Devon, where the surprised locals proved friendly enough to take him to the pub.
He said he had started to feel apprehensive when he saw that Swansea had almost disappeared from sight. "I knew something was not quite right when I noticed it was just a speck in the far distance. I then went past a cargo ship," he told the South Wales Evening Post.
"I turned around and realised that I had gone too far. It was at that point I had a moment of inspiration. I just thought I would carry on and head towards Devon. It was a clear day and I could see the coast so I just went for it."
Despite the cold weather, his gamble paid off and his efforts won a liquid reward.
"Even though I did not have any money, a couple took me off to a pub and bought me some beer," he said. "There I was sitting in a pub, completely soaking and in my wetsuit, but no one batted an eyelid."
Mr Cowles admitted that one of the scariest aspects of the day was having to call his wife and ask her for a lift home. It was a 280-mile round trip.