A Dunedin man picked the perfect storm for a sailing adventure to Vanuatu.
Steve Lind and friend Doug Pryor limped into Careys Bay on the 12.5m ketch Manutara II at 7.30pm on Wednesday, after two weeks of being "blown around the ocean".
Mr Lind left Dunedin on June 1 with son Ben to meet his wife, Anna, in Vanuatu.
"We had a couple of big storms on the way over. Ben was so worried at one stage, he repacked the grab bag with biscuits and stuff. You only grab the grab bag when you're going overboard," Mr Lind said yesterday.
"We were very lucky. It's the worst I've seen. We were in 18m seas at one stage. It's a 12.5m boat and we'd get halfway up [the wave] and it was still above us.
"We rang Search and Rescue on June 20 on the satellite phone to ... alert them to a possible rescue - ours. The woman who answered put us on hold and we lost the call. So all we could do was fully reef the main and head to bed for a few days."
After enjoying the comforts of solid land in Vanuatu, Mr Lind farewelled his wife and son on September 20 and expected to arrive back in New Zealand in two weeks. A friend, Doug Pryor, joined him, but conditions went from bad to worse on the homeward journey.
"I knew there was a chance of a storm, but I didn't expect five of them. We were just blown all over the ocean," Mr Lind said.
"We were in 50-knot winds with sleet and rain," Mr Pryor recalled. "We couldn't get out of the boat cabin for two days. I went out the back once to adjust the sail and the water was above my knees."
After scooting 360 nautical miles past New Zealand and ending up near Lord Howe Island, they managed to pick their way back through Cook Strait to Nelson.
By then, they had resorted to catching blue cod, albacore and a short-billed spearfish to supplement their dwindling rations.
"When we got back to Nelson, we had five litres of fuel left in the main tank," Mr Lind said.
"The first thing we did was go to the pub and have a beer."
After replenishing their stores, they were looking forward to an easy run down the east coast to Careys Bay.
"Then we hit that storm on Monday night," Mr Lind said, with a grin.
"Now we've just got to get everything dried out."