'I imagined her beginning to despair' - Greek captain who rescued Kiwi after 3 days lost at sea

Kushila Stein from Warkworth was rescued by the Greek Coastguard after drifting in the Aegean Sea on her inflatable rubber dinghy for 37 hours. Photo / Facebook

Kiwi woman Kushila Stein - who spent two days adrift off the coast of Greece with only boiled sweets for sustenance - had begun to despair when she was finally found, her rescuer says.

The 47-year-old Warkworth woman had intended to row a dinghy just 50m from a yacht to the shore of the Greek island of Folegandros.

But instead she lost an oar overboard and was swept out to sea, floating in the Aegean for 37 hours.

The experienced sailor had no fresh water and just a handful of lollies. But she used all her sea survival tricks, including wringing out her socks and drying them, rationing her lollies and wrapping herself in plastic bags for warmth.

Coastguard Captain Giorgos Marietakis, head of the rescue vessel that found Stein on Sunday, told the Guardian the Kiwi had been lost at sea for longer than anyone he knew.

"I had an image of her being hungry and thirsty," he told the UK newspaper from his base in Crete. "I tried to get into her head and think of what she would do. I imagined her beginning to despair and I thought of her doing whatever she could to survive."

Captain Giorgos Marietakis, head of the Coastguard vessel that found Stein, said he tried to get into Stein's head and think of what she would do during the search. Photo / Supplied

Seven vessels, a combat helicopter and military plane had been unable to find Stein, he said. A plane and a helicopter had both missed the "little speck of a grey dinghy" when they flew over, even though she had spotted them.

"All my thoughts were trained on finding this one human being. I knew that if we didn't, she would probably not survive."

When the crew eventually found Stein she was "clearly exhausted but very level-headed, very composed", Marietakis told the Guardian. "She had gone without fresh water and I think had begun to despair."

She was cold and dehydrated, and the crew had given her water, coffee and a croissant when she got on board. Stein had hugged and kissed the crew, Marietakis told the Guardian.

"I don't know who was more overjoyed, us or her."