A crew of seven people are to stay until Friday on board a leaking British yacht caught in an Atlantic gale.

The yacht was caught in force eight gale and seven-metre waves on Tuesday morning.

The captain of the 90ft Leopard of London said it was too dangerous for the UK crew to take to its life rafts because of the "nasty" conditions.

Two merchant vessels that answered calls for help from Falmouth coastguards were unable to reach the boat, which is marooned 600 miles south-west of Land's End and 450 miles north-east of the Azores.

Damaged rudder

The crew intend to stay on board until a tug arrives at the end of the week to tow them ashore, according to Falmouth coastguards.

A spokesman said the skipper was confident that the intake of water was being held in check by the yacht's pumps and would hold on until the tug from Azores arrived.

Coastguards said they would continue to closely monitor the situation.

The yacht damaged its rudder while en route from the Azores to Southampton.