Gold Coast sailor Xavier Doerr flown to hospital after rescue in Great Australian Bight

The young Gold Coast sailor rescued after being endangered in wild seas in the Southern Ocean is making his way to hospital after his terrifying ordeal – and he couldn’t hide his relief.

The young Gold Coast sailor rescued after being endangered in wild seas in the Southern Ocean is making his way to hospital after his terrifying ordeal.

Record attempting sailor Xavier Doerr, 22, will be flown to Adelaide and taken to a private hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries after being rescued from his boat on Saturday.

A picture posted to Facebook showed the relief written all over his face – and the faces of his rescuers.

SA Ambulance Service said a helicopter left Adelaide about 7.30am Sunday to retrieve Mr Doerr from the giant container ship Theodore JR and fly him to Adelaide.

A clearly overjoyed Xavier Doerr with his delighted rescuers aboard container ship Theodore JR. Picture: The Little Aussie Lap / Facebook

Support crews for the record-attempting sailor confirmed he was brought aboard the giant container ship Theodore JR about 4pm CST Saturday on a third rescue attempt.

The injured sailor was attempting to break a circumnavigation of Australia world record when he activated his personal locator beacon (PLB) on Friday and triggered a rescue operation coordinated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

The Theodore JR, a giant 228m container ship, which responded to the emergency, had already attempted two rescues, with a rope line fitted with a rescue harness fired towards the smaller Waterline yacht, but neither effort was successful.

Xavierr Doerr's yacht in the Southern Ocean during rescue efforts on Saturday. Picture: Australian Maritime Safety Authority

He is being assessed by medical personnel aboard the container ship as his overjoyed family are trying to work out how to be reunited after he is medivaced to the South Australian mainland on Sunday morning.

Mr Doerr was stranded on his boat - about 630km west of Kangaroo Island, SA, and 740km south east of Esperance, WA, after losing communication with his team back in Queensland on Friday afternoon.

Queensland man Lee Randall provided an update on Mr Doerr’s condition on Saturday morning, revealing he had sustained injuries.

Xavier Doerr instagram pics for boat rescue

“The conditions are horrendous,” he said. “Ninety-nine per cent of the sailing population have never seen conditions like it,” he said.

“There was some water ingress into the boat and he genuinely feared for his safety.”

He said weather in the Southern Ocean at this time of year was notoriously volatile, but he backed the brave sailor’s judgement.

“There will be plenty of Monday morning quarterbacks or armchair experts wanting to tear him down over this, but ultimately they aren’t the ones out there.”

Mr Doerr sustained head injuries in a fall inside the boat after it struck an unidentified object, but he was not seriously hurt.

A Perth-based rescue aircraft had reached the boat’s location about 7.15pm on Friday and was monitoring the vessel’s situation and communicating with the sailor via radio.

Both the Perth and Melbourne based AMSA Challengers remained overhead and communicated with the solo sailor throughout the night

AMSA issued an emergency broadcast and diverted Bulk Carrier Theodore JR.

Weather conditions in the area were still severe with winds estimated at 100-110km/h and seas reported to be 6m at about midday Saturday.

Mr Doerr was attempting Australia’s most difficult offshore sailing world record - a solo, nonstop, unassisted, circumnavigation of Australia in a 21ft high performance carbon fibre race yacht.

The 22-year-old departed Gold Coast in May 2022 on waht he dubbed his “Little Aussie Lap”.

Xavier Doerr’s damaged yacht at Fremantle on June 9 Picture: Instagram

Xavier Doerr posted video of the frightening conditions to his Instagram days before calling for help.

Gold Coast sailor Xavier Doerr before his attempt Solo Non Stop Unassisted Circumnavigation of Australia in a 21ft Race Yacht. Picture: Richard Gosling

Everything was going smoothly until last month when he struck bad weather off the coast of WA.

His yacht had to be intercepted and towed into Fremantle Sailing Club for assessment and repairs.

It meant his dream of breaking the record was over, but he set his sights on a different feat.

After three weeks completing repairs and undergoing a medical examination he set back off from Fremantle on June 29, looking to claim the record for youngest sailor and smallest vessel to have completed the circumnavigation.

On July 3, Mr Doerr posted a video to social media where he described the treacherous conditions he was facing in the Southern Ocean.

“It is fruity outside. Very, very fruity,” he said.

“Southern Ocean’s a bit on, I’m loving it though, I’m still tracking really well.”

Speaking to the Sail World website, Mr Randall said Mr Doerr was a “champion”.

“You know, no one ever doubted Xavier’s plan was ambitious, but end of the day, this is a young guy that had a dream, had the motivation, and had the drive to undertake something like this,” Mr Randall said.

“Imagine if he had not got hit by that storm down the coast of Western Australian, makes it around the corner by some sheer act of will and determination, passes by the bottom of Tasmania and on to home. He’d be a champion. He’s still a champion right now.”

The rescue mission has sparked debate online, with one poster - who lives on the Bight - labelling Mr Doerr’s voyage “plain bloody stupid”.

“I went out on a mates much larger boat in a swell SMALLER than what the sailing vessel is in and we could NOT see a 60 foot cray boat which was on the other side of a 5 metre swell,” he posted

“Yes I hope this sailor is rescued BUT I consider him to be nothing less than plain bloody stupid because we knew what the sea and wind was going to do.”

Mr Doerr’s team has been contacted for updates.

Originally published as Gold Coast sailor Xavier Doerr flown to hospital after rescue in Great Australian Bight