A South Australian yachtie says a harrowing 15-hour rescue in rough seas off the New South Wales North Coast has not dashed his hopes of crossing the ocean in the same boat one day.
Darryl Atkins, 56, was rescued alongside crewmate Steve French, 61, on Sunday after the pair became caught in an unexpected storm off Kingscliff.
The sailors were travelling from Queensland home to South Australia in a 38-foot yacht — which Mr Atkins had just bought from Tin Can Bay after years of searching for a similar vessel.
"We had a three-day window of 10 to 15 knots and a less than less than two-metre swell, but that's not what we experienced Saturday night with wind 57 kilometres an hour and the swell got up to well over five metres.
