Mark Smith, 49, and Steven Freeman, 30, told yesterday how they fought for their lives as 30ft (10m) waves capsized the raft repeatedly. They ate nothing during their 11-day ordeal, licked rainwater off the raft and were forced to drink their own urine. The pair left Hong Kong on December 5 to deliver a 65ft motor yacht to Australia. Problems began 24 hours into the voyage when one of the engines began to fail. Mr Smith said he turned the boat around 320 miles from Hong Kong, but a wave crashed over the bow, making a hole in the hull. The engine room began to flood and seconds later they were overboard clinging to the life raft.
"It just sank within 60 seconds," Mr Smith said. "We had supplies and within about half an hour, a big wave tipped us over upside down in the middle of the night in a storm. We lost all our supplies. That's when I looked at Steve and said, 'Man, we're in trouble."'
With only two sponges and a paddle the two managed to survive by collecting water in the sponges and drank enough to keep themselves alive. "We cuddled up like two little babies together at night to keep warm," Mr Smith said. "The nights were nightmares." Their clothes never dried because they were constantly flipped into the South China Sea.
Mr Smith told Associated Press by telephone yesterday that he started to give up on Saturday, after 11 days afloat on the rubber lifeboat, and he was struggling to pull himself back up. "I nearly gave up. I nearly took a mouthful [of water] and said, 'That's it.' " About 10 minutes later, a Vietnamese fisherman spotted the duo naked, dehydrated and exhausted. They were taken to a clinic on Ly Son Island off Vietnam's central coast.
Mr Smith said he is still not sure how they survived all those days without water, but they relied on each other to keep going. Mr Smith has spent most of his life at sea and credits those years of experience with saving him and Mr Freeman.
The two survived the storms that have flooded parts of central Vietnam, killing at least 47 people and forcing several hundred families to evacuate their homes.
Mr Smith said the ordeal will not deter him from future voyages. "There's a million things I want to do," he said of going home. "I think I'll have a chocolate milkshake."
They're now looking forward to eating Christmas dinner with their families. But they remain stranded until the surf abates around the island, 34 miles offshore, in Quang Ngai province, south of Danang.
