A solo sailor has waved his hands with joy after being rescued when his boat started to sink 1000km off the Western Australia coast.
The Canadian was sailing from Darwin to Christmas Island, about a 2800km journey, on Sunday when he got caught in a bout of rough weather.
His calls to Canada began failing, which prompted his brother to alert the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Rescue Co-ordination Centre to rescue the struggling sailor.
A rescue jet was flown across the Indian Ocean to search for the missing sailor, with the crew able to locate him using its satellite positional information.
The sailor was found in a dingy near his catamaran, which was partially submerged in the water.
He shielded his head from the harsh sun with a dark fabric as he lifted his arms with joy once he was spotted by the rescue crew.
“The last known position that we were given for the vessel was around about 1000 kilometres to the northwest of Broome, a very isolated, very remote part of the world,” rescue co-ordination centre manager Dan Gillis said.
“Once it had located the vessel, it was able to conduct two drops of supplies, one of which was a life raft for the solo sailor and the other was a communications kit which included emergency beacon and other communications equipment.”
The sailor was winched from the sinking boat with the help of the Royal Australian Navy Supply MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and brought back to safety.
“This operation demonstrates Australia’s ability to co-ordinate a rapid and effective response across one of the world’s largest search and rescue regions,” AMSA executive director response and capability Alex Barrell said.
“From the initial alert raised by family members overseas through to the deployment of AMSA’s rescue jet and support from HMAS Supply and its embarked helicopter, multiple agencies worked together to achieve a successful outcome.”
Thankfully, the Canadian sailor was not injured during the incident and is back on solid ground in good spirits.
Mr Gillis urged other adventurers to be cautious when exploring the ocean and to come prepared for any situation.
“This sailor appears to have done all the right things,” he said.
“We were reported of his situation when he missed his scheduled reports. He was able to activate an emergency beacon that was dropped to him and we were able to provide assistance.”