Spanish coastguards had to fight against the clock in rough seas to rescue a 62-year-old Frenchman who spent 16 hours inside his capsized sailboat off the coast of Galicia.

Emergency services said the reason the man survived is because he was wearing a special suit used in sailing competitions.

The boat, called Jeanne SOLO Sailor, sent a radio beacon signal at 20:23 local time on Monday, when it was 14 miles off the Sisargas Islands.

One of the three helicopters sent to respond to the emergency call discovered the sailboat turned upside down one hour later, just before sun set.

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The rescue team, which included five divers equipped with re-floatation balloons weighing 5 tonnes each, secured the boat to stop it from moving as they worked through the night in rough seas.

Once the boat was secured, divers went to inspect the wreckage and found the vessel's door was open and the sailor was miraculously still alive.

The divers helped him out of the boat and he was subsequently transferred in a helicopter to a hospital to be checked.

Cover image: Salvamento Maritimo/Handout via Reuters