Malcolm Myers, a Cape Town yachtsman reported missing at sea weeks ago, motored into Table Bay harbor, South Africa on Friday after a terrifying ordeal in the merciless South Atlantic.
He ran out of food and fuel, suffered from scurvy and fought thundering storms that spawned 15m swells and winds beyond 70 knots - about 130km/h. But in the end he managed to keep himself alive mainly on yellowfin tuna, which he had to eat raw.
Myers, an electrical engineer turned professional yachtsman, has been delivering boats around the world for 20 years and has crossed the Atlantic many times.
This time, however, he took 65 days instead of the more usual 32 and docked the 32-foot Sea Esta with a broken autopilot and damaged rigging.
He was also six kilograms slimmer and missing two teeth.
"I've been lucky so far but this time I came short. You're never too old to learn," he said.
Myers was commissioned to sail the Sea Esta, a Saddler 32, from Florida to Cape Town. He sailed 4 000 miles to Cabello in Brazil, where he took on provisions and repaired the broken autopilot.
He left Brazil on April 10 then found one of the shrouds - a wire cable that holds the mast - had started to part.
"If the shroud lets go the mast comes down and you will surely perish," he said. "I put up a jury rig to relieve the pressure on the mast but I couldn't put any power on the starboard side.
"I couldn't tack - the wind kept driving me further south.
"I'd gone about 1 700 miles when the bad weather hit me at 32 degrees south. I could hear it coming. It sounded like a train and it blew for three days and I was awake for two days straight."
Myers has seen the movie "The Perfect Storm" but said the weather he experienced was worse.
"I know people who have never experienced it will think it's like fishing stories but those waves were 15m to 20m," he said.
"When she went up them, the force pulled you to your knees, but when you went down the other side the rigging went crazy. It sounded as if the wind was trying to tear the boat apart. The wind was violent - 71 knots.
"The seas broke into the boat and washed away my dinghy and crates of potatoes and onions lashed in the cockpit. I was blown down to 39 degrees south and, hell, it was cold.
"I didn't have the gear for that and my sailing boots started to crack."
After the second day he fell into an exhausted sleep - in wet clothes and with his boots still on.
The storm subsided after three days and then he was hit by a second with wind speeds of 65 knots.
"I lived in constant tension. I knew the jury rig wouldn't hold up the mast for ever."
Hatches began to leak and his rice, spaghetti, flour, sugar, salt, beans and powdered milk were ruined, the labels washed off the tins. He lit the oven to keep warm but eventually ran out of gas and had to ration his food.
Corned beef tins have an identifiable shape but others are indistinguishable. "Bully beef goes nicely with beans or peas - but not necessarily with fruit cocktail," he chuckled.
Myers could hear "all-ships" radio bulletins asking vessels to look out for him when he was reported way overdue in Cape Town.
"I couldn't contact anyone because the radio on the yacht had a range of only 25 to 30 miles," he explained.
The last 13 days of his voyage saw Myers run out of food and he put out a fishing lure. He caught mainly yellowfin tuna, which he had to eat raw.
"I still had tomato paste, garlic and vinegar, so I made a kind of sushi."
He developed scurvy, with painful, bleeding gums. A tooth fell out and he used a pair of side-cutters to pull out another that was loose.
The wind changed direction but that gave Myers another problem. Unable to put sail on the starboard side, he found himself being blown too far north - to Port Nolloth where his daughter lives.
About seven miles offshore he called her on his cell phone.
"She was ecstatic. She thought I was dead."
Myers went ashore 65 days after leaving Brazil and "was fed by everyone". After recovering in Port Nolloth he took the yacht to Cape Town.
"The experience has not put me off," he said. "I'd still rather be sailing than sitting in an office."