Dr Farid employed a technique called wavelet analysis to examine 13 drawings that had at one time or another been attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, a 16th-century Flemish painter.
The RNLI's Exmouth inshore lifeboat was launched, but the crew of the Wavelet managed to turn the yacht round and pull the unconscious man from the sea, a Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman said.