Chilling tale of 28 hours lost at sea
He was stung by jelly fish and fended off a shark attack but by far the most difficult part of his 28 hours at sea was warding off thoughts of death, a Cape Town man who survived being lost at sea said.
In Port Elizabeth yesterday for a talk to raise money for rehabilitation centre Aurora, Brett Archibald recounted how he had to tread water for hours off the coast of Indonesia.
Hailed as a miracle survivor, Archibald fell overboard a surfing charter five years ago.
During the longest day of his life, Archibald hallucinated and was in constant disputes with God but, despite this, he said, faith, family and friends had kept him going.
Archibald, who spoke at Grey High School yesterday, said he had seen two boats disappear before his eventual rescue. “When that last boat turned around after [I was] shouting at it for help I had given up and made a conscious decision to drown myself, but my mind took over,” he said.
“At one point, I heard my wife shouting at me to keep swimming.
“That was when I decided I had to make my way to land.”
Archibald, 55, of Cape Town, joined a group on a surfing trip to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday, but that quickly went horribly wrong after they ate pizza that had spoiled and became violently ill.
Archibald said his business had been ailing when the invitation to travel to the Mentawai islands came and his wife had convinced him to go and clear his head.
When he hit the water after falling off the boat, he dreamed he was in a washing machine.
“I woke up and watched the boat sail off. I screamed, but it just kept going. I got so angry. [I thought] worst-case scenario, they would realise once they reached land that I was missing and come back for me.”
After a gruelling 28.5 hours in the water, Archibald was rescued by a group of Australians aboard a yacht.
Of the most frightening things to happen, Archibald recalled staring a shark in the eyes after it had bumped into him a number of times – and then there were the seagulls.
“The seagulls came for my eyes – I tried to catch one and rip its head off to eat it, but that didn’t happen.
“When I saw the shark come up to me, I nearly [soiled] myself.
“It circled around me and it is crazy what goes through your mind.
“I went under water and thought if I could grab hold of its fin and tail I could go for a ride on it and get to land.”
Archibald was found about 72km off the course his yacht had been sailing, but despite the long time he spent in the water, he said his happy place remained the ocean.
In fact, in some ways, his life changed for the better after the terrifying ordeal.
“My life changed 180 degrees. I started doing talks around the world in nine countries and released my book [Alone].
“My story is a spiritual journey. Life is really great and simple and I want to keep motivating people to just keep going.”
Aurora Special Care Centre fundraiser Sonja Szczawinski, 50, said they had raised “good money” at yesterday’s talk for much-needed security cameras.
“This was money we did not have and will be put to good use. We are really grateful to Brett for sharing his story with the Bay’s business people,” she said.
The seagulls came for my eyes – I tried to catch one...