【1980 Archives】

It sounds like the plot of a terrifying thriller980 Archives but in this case, there's a lucky escape and no fatalities.

A Japanese surfer was swept six kilometres (3.7 miles) out to sea around Bulli, on Australia's east coast, spending a night floating on his surfboard in the open ocean.

SEE ALSO: Drone captures travel blogger's hectic brush with a great white shark

The 37-year-old unnamed man was eventually picked up by sailors on container ship MSC Damla Friday morning, after he was sighted by crew.

The man told police he got caught in a strong current, and struggled to get back to shore because of the waves, according to ABC News.

"He was attempting to paddle back in for six hours before he ran out of energy and drifted at sea," Inspector Darren Wood from the Marine Area Command of NSW Police told the news outlet.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Wood said the surfer had been travelling by himself; so no-one knew he was at sea nor were authorities alerted to the fact he was missing.

SC said in a statement that the despite the choppy sea conditions, the ship's crew were able to dispatch a lifebuoy from the vessel and bring the man on board.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

On the ship, he was given food, dry clothes and wrapped in blankets as the ship's crew waited for a pilot boat from Port Kembla to take the man to shore. He was taken to Wollongong Hospital for fluid replacement and checks, but was released in the afternoon.

Port Kembla Water Police Sergeant Sean Netting told the Illawarra Mercurythat the man seemed surprisingly unfazed by his ordeal, despite spending 16 hours at sea.

"The risk would be hypothermia from exposure to the elements, and drowning, should he have become separated from the board. Most people that get themselves in that situation die. He's just so lucky that someone on ship spotted him," he told the newspaper. 

"He was in remarkably good spirits and basically had no [health] issues at all. He's a survivor."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Kevin Clarke, MD for MSC Australia, said that news of the rescue made it "extremely proud of the crew."

"This was, by all accounts, a dramatic rescue which appears to have enabled the man to walk free from his ordeal completely unscathed," he said.

"Naturally, our crew are always being observant of marine traffic, but it is exceptionally fortunate they were able to spot this man waving for help from his surf board."

UPDATE: Jan. 16, 2017, 7:51 p.m. AEDT Added images from MSC.

---

Featured Video For You

---

This futuristic tumbleweed is actually a minesweeper

---

• Life
• Tech
• Science
• Deals
• Games
• Social Good
• Entertainment
• Shopping

• Shop Owala's Memorial Day Sale for 30% off tumblers
• Verizon is launching 5G in these 20 cities this year
• Jaguar Land Rover will pay you crypto to hand over driving data
• Where all the surviving Avengers will probably go after 'Endgame'
• The Anatomy of Liberal Melancholy
• J.K. Rowling just dropped 'Fantastic Beasts' hints on Twitter
• Dude eats a 3
• Little boy proposes to his classmate with his mom's diamond ring
• A Typical Wall Street Republican
• Mike Pence tries to end the 'Hamilton' drama while Trump stokes the flames

• Best Black Friday vacuum deals 2023: Shark, Dyson, and more
• Joy Williams Will Receive Our 2018 Hadada Award
• How to get Niche Mixes on Spotify
• Chinese Rhymes
• Best deals of the day March 24: Save on blenders, vacuums, Starz streaming, and more
• On Telling Ugly Stories: Writing with a Chronic Illness
• “First of All I’m Naked”: On the Collected Poems of Michael Lally
• Best Black Friday deals at Best Buy: TVs, laptops, headphones, and more
• Schlemihls and Water Sprites
• 'Yellowjackets' Season 2: A cheating and cuckolding fetish explainer

• Astronomers saw one galaxy impale another. The damage was an eye
• Cyclone Kenneth is about to pummel Mozambique
• 'Avengers: Endgame' is missing one crucial superhero: Batman
• Twitter emoji denial has Trump fundraiser fuming
• Hurricane Laura's impact lingered with nightmarish mosquito swarms
• Jon Stewart says Trump is 'a reaction' to both Democrats and Republicans
• How to fix Gmail's cluttered design with a simple Chrome extension
• Everything a Marvel newbie needs to know before 'Avengers: Endgame'
• NYT Connections hints and answers for May 18: Tips to solve 'Connections' #707.
• Sigourney Weaver surprised the high schoolers behind that 'Alien' play

• Watch how an old Venus spacecraft tumbled before crashing to Earth
• I spent my morning at New York's new Taylor Swift Experience
• iFixit pulls its flaw
• Obama tweets sweet birthday note for his 'best VP' Biden
• Hurricane Laura's impact lingered with nightmarish mosquito swarms
• 'Avengers: Endgame' has the MCU's first canonically gay character
• Elon Musk is annoying the hell out of people who work with self
• 'Game of Thrones' Weekly: The big conversations heading into episode 3
• Sony launches new flagship XM6 headphones: Order them now
• Americans are now fighting over where Melania and Barron Trump will live