‘I like dry land now’: Sailors return to shore after almost 24 hours stranded at sea

A man and woman saved after spending 19 hours clinging to their broken-down yacht in wild weather off the coast of NSW have arrived back on shore after a dramatic rescue effort in six-metre waves and 70km/h winds.

The pair, Brett and Lisa, said they were tired and seasick when they lodged a distress call about 12.40pm on Monday that resulted in a multi-agency rescue mission.

The friends arrived back into Sydney on the police boat Nemesis about 6.15pm on Tuesday.

Brett and Lisa arriving back on dry land.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

“There was just two of us on there, it was just too much to keep going,” Lisa said shortly after disembarking the Nemesis at the NSW Police Marine Area Command in Balmain. “And it could’ve got worse.”

When the sailors, whose surnames have been withheld, sounded the alarm after suffering mechanical failure, including a damaged rudder and sail, the yacht was about 185 kilometres east of Nowra.

Six-metre swells and wild weather frustrated rescue efforts until police were able to bring them on board a small vessel at dawn on Tuesday, 315 kilometres south-east of Sydney.

NSW Marine Area Command Sergeant Ryan Spong said the distance the yacht had moved since the alarm was raised showed how fast winds were and that the rescue had taken place in “horrendous” conditions.

Brett reunited with his son Jordan – who said he “freaked out” when he saw his dad’s boat on the news – shortly after arriving in Sydney.

Lisa said she was looking forward to seeing her two children tomorrow and that she felt safe and secure back on land. The pair slept and recovered – with the help of coffee and meat pies – on the voyage home.

They thanked the multi-agency rescue crew involving NSW Police, rescue helicopters, the air force’s Hercules C-130, two navy ships and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. The sailors and their rescuers stressed the importance of carrying a radio beacon EPIRB, which the pair used to call for help.

Asked about his hopes that the 19-metre Spirit of Mateship could be recovered, Brett replied: “No, I like dry land now.” Lisa plans to be back out on the water on Thursday.

Footage of the moment the sailors were taken safely aboard a police vessel shows the yacht violently bobbing in the swell as waves crash around it. At times, the comparatively tiny police boat is hidden from view before reappearing behind the yacht, officers waiting for a fleeting moment of calm to make their move.

“Got one!” signals the first sailor’s transfer to the relative safety of the much smaller boat just before 7.30am on Tuesday. Then more bobbing, more manoeuvring and: “Two! Two! Two!”

In seconds, an almost day-long ordeal was over.

“Those conditions were a lot worse than what that video footage shows and they were terrible,” NSW Police Marine Area Command Chief Inspector Anthony Brazzill said following the rescue.

The rescue crew returns to shore with Brett and Lisa.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

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

Three helicopters had made contact with the yacht on Monday but could not rescue the pair because of fuel considerations.

In the early hours of Tuesday, the navy’s HMAS Canberra reached the Spirit of Mateship, a competitor in the Sydney to Hobart on several occasions, shortly before the police boat, Nemesis.

In addition to five- to six-metre seas, rescuers battled 50 to 70km/h winds before hauling the pair safely onboard Nemesis, where they were given food and water before falling asleep.

“They’re fatigued, they’re uninjured and they’re very grateful from what I understand,” Brazzill said after the rescue. “They’re travelling quite well.”

Brazzill said Brett, who owns the yacht, had travelled from the Gold Coast earlier this year and had been sailing with his Lisa when trouble struck.

The Spirit of Mateship has competed in several Sydney to Hobart races since 2013, when former prime minister Tony Abbott launched the yacht. It was crewed in its first appearance by a group of wounded or ill current or former Australian Defence Force members and their families.

The group represented Mates4Mates, an organisation formed by the Queensland Returned Servicemen’s League to help younger veterans by setting them personal goals, such as to walk the Kokoda Track or sail in an ocean race. The yacht is no longer owned by the RSL or affiliated with Mates4Mates.

The Spirit of Mateship, which remains seaworthy, according to the sailors, is now in the hands of the treacherous seas its crew escaped.

“The owner and the insurance companies, they may look at salvaging it,” Brazzill said. “Keep an eye out for it. Depending on conditions, it may come in on the coast further down, it may go to New Zealand. These things happen, but the priority is about saving lives, not boats.”

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