These five words shocked me awake.

It was 4am and I opened my eyes to find I had fallen asleep on the boat’s couch still wearing my soaked wet-weather gear.

I quickly threw on a lifejacket and grabbed my headlamp.

The boat was rocking from side to side as I climbed the stairs to the deck where my fellow crewmen were already trying to lower the sail.

The wind was blowing about 20 knots and our skipper David Hows was worried things could rapidly get out of control.

“Clip in and hang on,” the 46-year-old shouted in the thunderstorm.

“Make sure you’ve got all your safety equipment so it’s easier to find you if you fall overboard.”

It was our fourth night at sea competing in the Sydney to Gold Coast Yacht Race.

Waves crashed onto the boat’s deck and their spray stung our bare faces like ice burns.

It was a stark contrast to previous days which we had spent navigating through moody winds that sometimes sent us backwards.

This year’s race was dubbed by organisers “the longest in memory” because it took the 77 boats so long to reach the finish line at the Southport Yacht Club.

It should have taken us three days to make the journey up the coast but it dragged for more than four.

The best way to describe this race — which is Australia’s second longest — is to imagine sitting on a roller coaster for four days non-stop.

You have to sleep, eat, cook and go to the toilet while rocking from side to side for 384 nautical miles.

It’s not always easy.

Add in seasickness, sleep deprivation and the cold — and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a potential disaster.

Of the three Gold Coast boats that started the 31st annual race, one retired and the others finished in the last two positions.

But aboard boat Ocean Gem — a Beneteau 445 — seven strangers, including myself, battled the elements to the end.

For Elijah van Coeverden, it was his love for sailing that made him take on the Sydney to Gold Coast Yacht Race.

“My grandfather was a sailor and he travelled the world sailing while I was growing up,” the 27-year-old electrician from Main Beach said.

“I heard all his crazy stories which inspired me.”

Elijah is one of several crew members who will join Mr Hows in his quest to conquer the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race later this year.

Mr Hows’ neighbour Sean Hanrahan will also be on board.

This week’s race from Sydney to the Gold Coast was the perfect training run for them.

“We were at a barbecue around Christmas and David told me he sailed,” Mr Hanrahan, 46, said.

“He said I should come along and, well, here I am.”

Sitting on the railing of Ocean Gem on day two during another quiet — and therefore frustrating — period sailing the country’s east coast, crewmen Richard Durham said he loved the sport’s challenges.

“There are many different elements,” he said.

“It’s all about reading the wind and making the most of it.”

Mr Durham overcame cancer five years ago and had a knack for cheering up the weary crew during our five days at sea.

“Look up at the stars,” he would say, pointing to the million shiny dots in the sky.

“Check out the whales on the side of the boat.”

Alex Lomakin, 55, also liked to put things into perspective at times when I sometimes silently prayed for someone to get me off the boat.

“Don’t tell me you’d rather be on the couch,” he would yell into the wind with a big smile across his face.

“This is living.”

One of the toughest men aboard Ocean Gem was Steven Humphris who enjoys sailing more than anything — but he also falls ill on most long-distance trips.

Mr Durham — like most of us — blamed the tough going on bad luck.

“There must be bananas on this boat,” he said one day, after staring at the same headland for half a day.

He was referring to an old superstition that bananas bring bad luck to a boat.

But it was Mr Hows who summed up the frustration.

“I’ve never seen a race like this,” he said one day, after the boat had moved less than a metre in five hours.

“I can’t believe how many wind holes we have had — it’s insane. You can see why people stop sailing.”

And yet, it was inspiring to see the crew work together to overcome obstacles.

As for the wind — there was nothing we could do about it.

However, maybe Mr Durham was right in being superstitious.

Just metres from the finish line, Mr Durham found an answer to our troubles while eating celebratory lollies.

“I told you,” he said, holding

up a bright yellow lolly. A banana.