Hit By Waves As High As Six Meters, Yacht Hit 200 Mil From Beach: Two Passengers Survived

Illustration. (unsplash/bboba)

JAKARTA - Two people have been rescued after a terrible night at sea as waves as six meters high (20 feet) threw their stranded yacht nearly 200 miles (322 kilometers) from Australia's east coast, leaving him quickly drifting towards New Zealand.

Authorities were first notified of the ship's crisis at around 1 a.m. on Monday, when they spread the distress flare, but it took hours before the first rescue helicopters found the ship.

The 20 meters long Yacht Spirit of Mateship lost power and communication, hit by winds of up to 90 kilometers per hour (56 mph) and waves as high as six meters.

"(Heavy crews) can fly over yachts and they can communicate via radio by cruise ship, but they can't contact them," said Ben Flight, task manager at the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Response Center.

Rescue efforts were later canceled due to the violent sea, forcing the two people referred to by New South Wales police as Brett, 60, and Lisa, 48 to spend the night Flight described as a "terrible" night at sea.

"They weren't injured, but the ship had a mechanical problem, and they couldn't control it. They couldn't move on their own in the water, so they were adrift, and they also entered the water. So, they are in a pretty serious situation," Flight said.

"They seem to depend on nature. They definitely move very uncomfortable. The weather is very windy, noisy, and maybe quite wet," he continued.

Two Australian Navy ships HMAS Arunta and HMAS Canberra answered calls for help, as well as Australian Royal Air Force C-130J Hercules aircraft, according to the Australian Defense Force (ADF).

The ships, along with nearby merchant ships, monitored the yacht's location overnight, with rescue resumed in the early hours of the morning, when conditions had improved.

The NSW Nemesis police ship arrived on the cruise ship at around 3 a.m. in the morning, deploying a smaller ship to save sailors around morning at sea that was overhauled with waves as high as four to five meters.

The couple returned to the beach in Nemesis on Tuesday night, telling reporters in Sydney they were "it's good to be back."

"The ship was more than seaworthy. We were just tired and drunk so we couldn't continue the journey further," Brett said.

Flight said the results would be much worse if the crew did not launch a distress flare, which issued a satellite warning to notify the rescue coordination center of their location.

It is known that the Spirit of Mateship has competed in Sydney's prestigious sailing boat race to Hobart several times manned by veterans and military personnel.

Together they raised money to support military veterans. However, according to Flight, the yacht has been changing hands since then.