A couple have been rescued off Australia’s south-eastern coast after their yacht’s rudder snapped in gale-force winds and waves “the size of buildings”.
Irishman Nick Dwyer, 55, and Barbara Heftman, 44, who is French, said they were “looking death in the eye” as their 40-foot boat repeatedly capsized and the sail tore off on their voyage from New Zealand to Australia.
They managed to activate an emergency beacon on Tuesday, after three days without a rudder, and made contact with the Australian authorities.
New South Wales Police said it took their rescue boat more than 13 hours to reach the couple in “treacherous conditions” and found them about 230 miles east of Sydney.
“We owe them our lives,” said Mr Dwyer, after the couple, who were o a circumnavigation of the globe, landed on Sydney Harbour last night.
The yacht, their home for seven years, was abandoned.
