Sharks circled Brett Archibald, seagulls pecked on him and jellyfish stung him

Apr 22, 2013 12:57 GMT  ·  By

A surfer from South Africa has defeated all odds by managing to survive for 27 hours in the Indian Ocean, swimming and floating with no life jacket.

Brett Archibald, a 50-year-old father of two, fell off the boat that was supposed to take him from Panang to the Mentawai Islands for a surfing trip.

Daily Mail wrote that the crew on the Naga Laut didn't even notice that he was gone after he fell overboard due to sea sickness.

Archibald passed out as he was on the deck during nighttime and the other nine passengers on the boat only realized that he was gone the next morning.

He regained consciousness once he reached the cold water and had to try to survive, in hope that the sailboat would come back for him.

“Brett told [his wife Anita] he had been extremely sea sick and may have passed out on the deck of NAGA LAUT while being sea-sick overboard when he woke up already in the sea behind the boat which continued away from him.

“No one onboard NAGA LAUT knew he had gone overboard,” relays Craig Lambinon of South Africa's National Sea Rescue Institute.

He tried floating and swimming on his front and back, while fighting currents that didn't allow him to approach land.

He was stung by jellyfish several times while fighting away fish and seagulls in the shark-infested waters.

“He said he came close to drowning at least 8 times during his 27 hour ordeal (swimming and drifting at sea) and that he had been stung by jelly fish, picked at by fish and seagulls had tried to pluck his eyes out.”

He was finally picked up by the Barrenjoey, owned by a family from Sydney who spotted him in the water.

According to Indonesian Coast Guard officials, he was found 11 miles (17 km) from where he originally went missing.

“John, Belinda and crew Doris and their two sons Finn and Duke (5 + 8 years old) - who also had their binoculars out as well - found Brett.

“Family and friends of Brett Archibald are overjoyed by news that Brett has been found alive and well, although sunburnt and dehydrated,” Lambinon adds.