Exhausted sailors back on dry land, tell of brutal sea conditions

Exhausted sailors are back on dry land and uninjured after a mammoth rescue mission hundreds of kilometres offshore.

Sea sick and weathered-battered sailors who spent the night 300 kilometres off the New South Wales coast in rough seas and a leaky boat are back on dry land and in good spirits.

Brett McIntosh and his sailing companion Lisa briefly spoke to media from Sydney’s Balmain on Tuesday night, about 30 hours after they sent out a distress signal in brutal conditions.

The police boat which ultimately ferried them back to dry ground had decent coffee and they were fatigued but uninjured, Mr McIntosh said.

Sailors Brett and Lisa, who spent 18 hours off the NSW south coast in their stricken yacht ‘Spirit of Mateship’, have thanked their rescuers after arriving safely back in Sydney. Picture: NSW Police

The pair arrived just before 6.30pm. Picture: NSW Police

“Coffee and a meat pie. That helped,” the exhausted sailors told media.

Their yacht had lost its rudder and was drifting quickly toward New Zealand on Monday afternoon, when they sounded the alarm.

The yacht was taking on water but was “more than seaworthy” Mr McIntosh said; they just couldn’t steer it.

Conditions were rough, and only having two crew on board meant they needed to call for help, they said.

Lisa planned to sail up to Queensland later in the week, but would not be heading quite as far out to sea.

“There was just two of us on there, it was just too much to keep going,” she said. “It could’ve got worse.”

Brett McIntosh hugging his son after arriving back on shore. Picture: NSW Police

EARLIER

Dramatic footage emerged showing the moment two sailors who were stranded at sea overnight had to jump onto a rescue boat in “terrible” conditions.

Emergency services on Tuesday morning made contact with a 60-year-old man and 48-year-old woman who were on-board the 19m Spirit of Mateship yacht, which began taking in water on Monday due to a mechanical issue.

Emergency services were initially unable to rescue them amid extreme weather conditions.

Brett McIntosh and his sailing companion Lisa briefly spoke to media from Sydney’s Balmain on Tuesday night. Picture: NSW Police

Two sailors were rescued after being stranded at sea. Picture: NSW Police

Waves of four to five metres rocked the NSW coast on Tuesday morning, with video footage showing a small boat tackling massive choppy waves in a desperate bid to rescue the sailors.

The yacht was bobbing along with the large waves, as wind gusts of 50-60km/h were recorded.

NSW Police Chief Inspector Anthony Brazzill said the two sailors had to jump onto a rescue boat amid the “terrible” conditions.

“It’s a matter of just basically timing it … Get the person to jump, as they’re coming in, get them to jump and catch, doing one at a time, obviously making sure that people have the life jackets on,” Inspector Brazzill said at a press conference on Tuesday morning.

Waves of up to 5m were recorded on Tuesday morning. Picture: NSW Police

He said the situation could have been “a whole lot worse” if not for the experienced mariners who executed the rescue.

“Without that experience … it may have been a whole lot worse,” he said.

“Take your hat off to those crews that were there – you saw those conditions coming in and out and it was pretty much ‘quick run, jump, catch’.”

Inspector Brazzill said the yacht had drifted 70 nautical miles (130km) overnight as the pair couldn’t bring the sails down.

“The yacht was running away from us as we were chasing it down the coast which obviously made a challenge,” Inspector Brazzill said.

The yacht has been left in the ocean, with Inspector Brazzill stating that their priority is to “save lives, not save boats”.

A rescue helicopter flew to the yacht on Monday night but it was unable to take on the passengers, while the NSW Water Police vessel Nemesis arrived on scene at 3am on Tuesday.

The vessel was able to reach the yacht and make contact with the sailors about 314km southeast of Sydney Heads at 1am on Tuesday, but extreme weather conditions left the crew unable to rescue the sailors.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (ASMA) received an emergency alert from the Spirit of Mateship at 12.40pm Monday, with NSW Police confirming a distress beacon was received about 150km offshore from Nowra.

The Spirit of Mateship yacht has taken part in a number of Sydney to Hobart races since 2013. Picture: ABC 7.30.

The sailors were rescued about 7.25am on Tuesday.

The man and woman are not injured and are travelling to Sydney on-board the Nemesis for medical assessment.

They are expected to reach NSW Police Marine Area Command late Tuesday night.

The Spirit of Mateship yacht has taken part in a number of Sydney to Hobart races since 2013.

Originally published as Exhausted sailors back on dry land, tell of brutal sea conditions