South African surfer rescued after 27 hours lost at sea

Brett Archibald, 50, is lucky to be alive.

The South African man, reportedly suffering from seasickness, fell from Naga Laut, a private charter boat, into the Indian Ocean's Mentawai Strait sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. last Tuesday morning.

No one knew he was missing until he failed to show up for breakfast more than four hours after he tumbled into the water.

"Brett was very seasick last night during the storm," JM Tostee, who was onboard the Naga Laut, told the surfing magazine Stab. "We think he must have fallen overboard when getting sick on deck whilst everyone was sleeping."

He added, "Archie is strong enough mentally and physically to survive."

The boat's crew immediately turned around to retrace their path. Other surf charter boats nearby also joined the search, as did Indonesian authorities.

Australian charter boat The Barrenjoey immediately launched a search and rescue effort. It found Archibald, dehydrated and sunburned, the next morning, floating on his back about 10 miles from where he first disappeared.

He had been treading water for more than 24 hours.

"The one saving grace was that the water is warm. If this had happened in Australian waters he would never have survived," Colin Chenu, 49, one of the nine surfers who helped rescue Archibald, told Fairfax Media's Angie Kelly.

Chenu, his fellow surfers, and the boat's crew searched in vain for the missing surfer the night before. The next morning, their determined skipper insisted they "give it one last try" before giving up the search.

At 7:15 a.m., they found him.

Despite having been stung by jellyfish, bitten by fish, attacked by seagulls and encircled by sharks — Archibald told his wife, Anita, he nearly drowned at least eight times — the determined surfer refused to cut his surfing holiday short.

"Brett told Anita he wants to complete his surfing trip before returning home and that he didnt fly all that way to tread water for 27 hours," said Craig Lambinon, who works in Sea Rescue Communications for the National Sea Rescue Institute.

Archibald had nothing but praise for his rescuers.

"I’m a converted Aussie, I love these guys!" he told Surfing Life.