A sailor attempting a record-breaking circumnavigation of Australia has been rescued after his yacht capsized off the South Australian Coast.
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Xavier Doerr endured 24 hours of "hell" in the Great Australian Bight as his vessel was hit with eight-metre waves and wind gusts exceeding 100kms an hour.
The extreme conditions came as the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for parts of NSW, Victoria and South Australia on July 7.
The sailor was forced to trigger his emergency beacon, eventually being rescued by a passing bulk carrier and later winched to safety by a rescue helicopter.
He called the paramedics "angels of the sky that come to rescue the most extreme people in the world".
Mr Doerr sustained minor head and neck injuries when his boat hit a submerged object and he was thrown against the roof.
"I was surfing down a wave and I collided with what I believe was a sunfish underwater which caused me to capsize," he said.
![Mr Doerr believed colliding with a sunfish was what ended his journey. Mr Doerr believed colliding with a sunfish was what ended his journey.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/cdaed3e3-78b9-42c9-a57d-f952277703da.jpg/r0_0_800_600_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
With a maximum height of 3.3 metres and weight of up to 1000kgs, a collision with a sunfish would put most boats out of commission. The 40-foot yacht Yeah Baby might have been taken out by the same fish in the 2022 Sydney to Hobart.
The 22-year-old was attempting to complete the fastest nonstop unassisted circumnavigation of Australia in a monohull.
The record has only ever been held by two sailors, with David Beard being the first to complete the journey back in 1990.
Lisa Blair took the title in 2018 in 58 days, two hours, 25 minutes, knocking 10 days off Mr Beard's time and becoming the first woman to circumnavigate the country unassisted.
Ms Blair, who also holds the record as the fastest person to sail unassisted around Antarctica, said in 2018 that the coastal voyage around Australia was far more difficult.
"Sailing solo around Antarctica, it's fairly open waters so you can get rest, you've just got to be able to get through the storms and deal with the cold climate," she said.
"Whereas sailing solo around Australia, you're coastal the entire time. You've got this hot climate, changing weather patterns, land, reef, rocks, traffic, so it means you can't sleep more than 20 minutes at a time the whole way."
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![A sunfish is believed to be responsible for ending Yeah Baby's race in last year's Sydney to Hobart. A sunfish is believed to be responsible for ending Yeah Baby's race in last year's Sydney to Hobart.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/8923fe4e-1040-4356-a221-c9d3c5a84355.jpg/r0_0_800_600_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Mr Doerr's 21-foot Mini Transat yacht, Waterline, was abandoned during the rescue and currently remains at sea.
The sailor purchased the vessel in 2021 for his first try at 'The Little Aussie Lap' the following year but had to end his attempt just 48 hours in after the boat was similarly hit by strong winds and took on water, killing vital electronic systems.
Mr Doerr has since been released from the Royal Adelaide Hospital and reunited with family.
"I'm feeling relieved now that we know that Xavier is safe," his mother Caitlin Gardiner said.