Will Oxley

who we were and, and where we were, as opposed to just a signal that they didn't know who it was from.

And so we managed to get the engine going and we were able to start motoring to the north.

We, we couldn't, we couldn't head directly at Eden because of the waves and the danger, but at about 1030 at night, a seeking helicopter turned up and, um,

He reported later that he was on hover at 77 metres above the ocean and he nearly ditched it because of a wave coming past him.

Yeah.

So he was on auto hover struggling.

And so we have much better communications with helicopters now, but back then the communications were not ideal and our radios were all out.

And so he sent down...

a rope and then he sent down a little bag with a message in it, but the message was written on paper and that was totally destroyed.

So we had this weird communication.

He could see we had, we got everyone on deck.

He could see that we had a full crew.

Everyone appeared calm and safe.

And so from his perspective, he was trying to figure out... And we weren't about to... It was clear that they would be keen for us to jump into the water in order for them to send someone down to pick us up.

And we weren't that keen that that was going to be a good idea.

And then suddenly he disappeared, just disappeared.

And we now know he went to another yacht, which was the Sword of Orion, which had had problems.

And so we then...

just continued on our way.

So I was navigating, largely using dead reckoning.