After being adrift at sea for 24 hours, a Queensland seaman was rescued off the coast of South Australia. He has since braved hazardous seas to find his abandoned ship in the Great Australian Bight.
After being rescued while attempting to circumnavigate the country, 22-year-old Xavier Doerr departed Port Lincoln earlier this week on board a shrimp trawler in an attempt to find his boat.
Nearly sinking and 6.5 metres long, the Gold shore City Marina & Shipyard yacht was finally located 225 km off the Port Lincoln shore. It was riddled with holes.
Doerr claimed that he was still experiencing head, neck, and back pain.
I would have hated to have something happen to another ship with it out there, so I’m glad to see it hadn’t affected anyone else,” Doerr added.
There was a lot of wind, according to skipper Bernie Henderson, and the trip was not enjoyable.
Henderson remarked, “We will all be able to go home and have a good sleep, we haven’t had much of that the past few days.”
The yacht will be hauled back to his Doer’s residence on the Gold Coast using a crane to lift it out of the water.
Doer was found in need of assistance in winds of 110 km/h at 4:50 pm on Friday, 630 km west of Kangaroo Island and 740 km southeast of Esperance.
