A sailor who was left stranded at sea for 12 terrifying hours in shark infested waters has been rescued.
Watch the video below to see him relive his ordeal
American tourist Levi Verwosetan was sailing up the Australian east coast about 40kms south of Queensland’s Mackay, when his catamaran capsized on Wednesday night.
The 29-year-old told 7 News: “Shortly after sunset yesterday I noticed the boat slowing down and I went out on deck and the hatch cover was missing allowing water to flow in.”
Thinking quickly Verwosetan managed to climb onto the top of his boat and camp out in his dinghy overnight.
“I was waiting on calling on support because I was hoping to make an attempt to right the boat, but that was just a waste of my time,” he said.
However, his near death experience hasn’t deterred the experienced sailor from going back in the water.
“I still love sailing, I still want to go back,” he said.
RACQ CQ Rescue crewman Arno Schoonwinkel told Daily Mercury Verwosetan was a cautionary tale on the importance of having an emergency beacon.
“It is extremely important to have an EPIRB with you.”
“He was out there for 12 hours.
“Unfortunately, it did take a while for him to activate it because it was dark – but as soon as it was activated we were there in 20 minutes.”
Watch Mr Verwosetan’s interview below.
