SYDNEY, March 9 (Xinhua) -- A couple were rescued 200 nautical miles off the coast of Sydney early Thursday morning, after their yacht's rudder broke in extremely dangerous conditions.
"We encountered enormous seas, waves the size of buildings coming at you constantly, winds that you can't stand up in and seas breaking, whiteness everywhere," Irishman Nick Dwyer told the Australian Associated Press.
The experienced sailor and his partner, Frenchwoman Barbara Heftman, lost control of steering on Saturday, but continued to sail until their 12-meter vessel was knocked down and rolled on Tuesday afternoon.
The couple then activated the boat's emergency radio beacon and waited for rescuers.
"Barbara and I were waiting after the boat turned upside down, holding each other, thinking for a split second that seemed to last for an eternity, 'is she going to turn upright?'" Dwyer told reporters in Sydney.
"It was truly amazing, to think that somebody had come that far to save us."
The couple have been sailing around the world for the last ten years, living aboard their boat.
"Our home's gone, we're alive, I expect to live a little bit longer and that'll be okay," he said.
