Two people who spent 19 hours clinging to their stricken yacht in ferocious seas say they’re happy to be back on dry land.
Navy and police vessels battled heavy seas to save 60-year-old Brett and 48-year-old Lisa from the 19-metre vessel about 7.25am on Tuesday.
Mechanical failures – including a broken rudder – led to the Spirit of Mateship becoming stranded about 185km east of Nowra, on the NSW south coast, before it drifted further to sit around 300km offshore.
The pair arrived back on dry land on Tuesday evening, hugging rescuers in front of waiting media at marine police headquarters.
“We’re glad to be back,” Brett, the yacht’s owner, told reporters.
He said the boat was “more than seaworthy” but its occupants had become “tired, seasick and couldn’t continue any further”, activating one of the boat’s distress beacons.
“The communication from everyone was wonderful and we knew what was going on at all times,” Lisa said.
Those who came to their aid said it highlighted the importance of carrying emergency position indicating radio beacons or EPIRBs.
“Without the activation of the EPIRB … it’s unlikely we would have been aware of the distress situation,” Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s Ben Flight said.
The distress beacon alert was received about midday on Monday but heavy seas and strong winds plagued rescue efforts.
Brett, believed to have been living on the boat since January, and his companion set sail from Jervis Bay in recent days.
Dramatic footage of the rescue showed a small police recovery vessel next to the yacht as the two boats rose and fell in heaving seas.
“Got one, one aboard,” an observer can be heard shouting in the video.
The duo were uninjured but exhausted after their near-24-hour ordeal, quickly falling asleep after climbing aboard their rescue vessel.
NSW Police Chief Inspector Anthony Brazzill labelled the pair “extremely lucky”, given winds of between 50 and 70km/h and seas of up to 6m had made executing the rescue effort challenging.
“Their boat wasn’t sinking, but they were definitely taking on water. They’ve got mechanical issues in terrible conditions … it could have been life-threatening if we weren’t able to get to them in time,” he said.
The yacht had to be abandoned.
Navy vessel HMAS Canberra assisted in the rescue effort, shielding police vessel Nemesis as the smaller ship made the daring rescue.
HMAS Canberra captain Brendan O’Hara said conditions for the pair on the yacht would have been torturous, given his much larger ship had also battled the powerful swells.
“(The pair) were just holding on as best they could … I hate to think what it was like for them because even on board Canberra, which is quite a large ship, we were rocking and rolling a fair bit,” he said.
HMAS Canberra rendezvoused with the stricken yacht at 1am on Tuesday, while the police boat arrived at 3am.
The choppy conditions initially prevented authorities from winching the duo out of their boat and airlifting them for treatment.
They will be given a medical assessment when they arrive in Sydney.
Before the rescue, AMSA officials said the matter had become “time-sensitive” with the boat taking on water.
Two Royal Australian Navy ships and an RAAF C-130J Hercules aircraft were initially involved in the rescue operation.
The Spirit of Mateship has entered a number of Sydney to Hobart races, crewed by wounded and injured former defence force personnel to raise money for charity Mates4Mates.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott launched the boat in 2013 before the vessel’s first Sydney to Hobart effort.
