KEY POINTS:
Charles Whipple woke early yesterday and heard a loud banging noise, which he thought was just the waves rolling against his yacht.
It turned out the noise was the $85,000 vessel being smashed against rocks at Great Barrier Island, forcing him to abandon ship and climb to safety on top of a slippery outcrop.
Speaking to the Herald at the Westpac rescue helicopter base following his dramatic rescue, Mr Whipple said he owed his life to the helicopter crew and a beacon that allowed them to pinpoint his location.
"It's called a personal locator beacon and it lets them know right where you are," he said.
Mr Whittle left Tauranga last Wednesday in the 6.5m Resolution for Honolulu.
But he struck bad weather off the Northland coast, and had a fuel leak, so he turned back to Tauranga.
An American who lives in Japan, he came to New Zealand specifically to have his boat made for his long-awaited solo voyage.
"I was on my way back under auto-pilot so to speak ... I had something to eat and then went to sleep but woke up to this loud banging."
It was dark at 4am and he thought it was just the waves. But when he got up, he saw the island up close and the rudder smashed. He turned the engine on and tried to move but the yacht was too damaged.
The Resolution drifted about another 30m to some higher rocks.
"I grabbed the beacon and the hand-held radio and got out on to the rocks ... but I had to go back and get my passport and things."
When he was finally off the boat he had to move again because the Resolution, was "coming right towards me".
Mr Whipple went back into the cool water and swam to nearby rocks that were about 8m high.
He then activated the beacon and waited to be rescued.
"I got the fright of my life. You don't like to see that sort of thing."
But less than an hour later the Westpac Trust Rescue helicopter crew arrived to pull him to safety.
With his dreams of a solo voyage shattered, Mr Whipple wasn't ruling out another attempt.
But his first concern on reaching dry land was ringing his family in Japan to tell them he was safe.
Rescue helicopter crewman Leon Ford said the beacon was a big factor in getting to Mr Whipple quickly.
"It allowed us to get to him because it gave us his exact location.
'He was lucky, but he was well prepared," Mr Ford said.
