Drifting yachtie too selfish to be first to die

Boating buddies Steve Freeman and Mark Smith discussed who would die first and whether the survivor should eat the remains during their 11 days adrift in the South China Sea.

But New Zealander Mr Freeman said that despite their desperate situation, it would never have come to that "because we were both so selfish ... neither of us was going to go first".

Mr Freeman's long journey home was finally completed when he arrived at Christchurch Airport just before midnight on Thursday into the arms of relieved family members.

Mr Freeman, 30, and Australian Mr Smith, 49, survived in their liferaft with only a paddle and a sponge after their boat sank off Hong Kong on December 5.

The rough, unforgiving seas swept away all their supplies - food, water, flares and radio - and flipped their raft several times a day.

"We were getting knocked out of our raft two or three times a day and every second wave was coming in, so we just kept bailing water out, bailing water out, and then sleeping," Mr Freeman told the Weekend Herald.

As high winds swept them towards Vietnam, they came to rely on each other for sanity and to keep hope alive.

"If you were by yourself, you'd give up hope early, and trying to turn one of those six-man rafts over by yourself would be a bit of a mission, so the two of us being there, we'd push each other along," he said.

"One day I'd be feeling like a bag of shit and Mark would say, 'We're going to make it', and the next day I'd be doing that to him, just trying to keep each other's hopes up.

"We're only human so you do give up a little bit, you know. The only thing you can do is lie down and die or try and bail some water out and keep on living."

They had to drink their own urine, which they came to regard as "mother's milk" after a few days.

On the seventh day adrift it rained.

"And after that we had a tiny bit of rain each day," he said, though in the absence of a container the men had to lick the rain off the sides of the raft.

Ultimately, the prevailing winds and their determination to live outlasted the elements against them.

"Mark's been driving boats for 25 years and the day we hit the water, he said if this wind keeps up, we're going to hit Vietnam. And he was spot-on," said Mr Freeman.

"We covered about 700 miles [1127km] over 11 days, but if it wasn't for the weather we would have never hit land."

On December 17, their raft was spotted by fishermen.

The two weak and weary men - Mr Freeman had lost 12kg - spent a week in a hospital on Ly Son island, 30km off the Vietnam coast.

They were ordered to rest around the clock, though they couldn't do much else as bad weather prevented them from leaving the island.

Once on the mainland, they flew first-class to Sydney, where they enjoyed a "good Aussie barbecue" before Mr Freeman completed the final leg home.

The ordeal, though in a category all its own, is not Mr Freeman's first bad luck on the high seas.

"Two months ago the boat I was working on had the windows blown out and our main engines broke down, so we were bobbing around out there for 12 to 14 hours before another boat found us.

"But I've never had anything like a boat sinking I've never been in that situation before."

He remains undeterred.

"Hopefully I'll be out again before the end of the month," he said.

"It was just circumstances. I don't think it will happen again."

Mr Freeman is now looking forward to a few lazy days aboard the "hippy bus" owned by his sister, Karen Scowen, and her husband Johnny.

"We're going to spend a few days camping in the Nelson area, just relaxing, not having to rush around from place to place. It'll be great."

At the airport Mr Scowen said he was just pleased to see his brother-in-law in the flesh after poor weather had cast doubt over when he would get home.

"I gave him about four or five kisses on the side of his head. It's great to know that he's alive and breathing. He's looking good."