Two yachtsmen describe the terrible weather conditions

About 50 sailors were winched to safety by helicopters with many yachtsman relieved just to survive.

"It was the worst conditions I have ever seen in 35 years. It was horrendous," said Geoff Boettcher, skipper of Secret Men's Business, which limped into the fishing port of Eden in New South Wales on Monday.

"It was survival mode for many hours. We were getting five-, six- maybe seven-metre waves breaking on the top and that's roll-over material on any yacht," he said.

Abandoned yacht Stand Aside was hit by a 30ft (9m) wave which tore away its mast and half its cabin.

"The sea was big but it wasn't absolutely monstrous until this one bastard hit - and it was big," said injured crewman Mike Marshmon.

"It got us at the wrong angle and it just rolled us. Rolled us completely over. We did a 360 degree roll. When we came up the mast was gone and we were in a bit of trouble with half the roof missing off the boat," he said.

Television pictures showed Stand Aside rolling from side to side in huge waves.

Helicopter rescuers were forced to drop a diver into the pitching sea to winch up each of the 12 crew from a drifting life raft.

Stand Aside crew Simon Clark thought he was about to die when the giant wave tore open the yacht and threw eight crew members into the water.

"The boat filled with water," Clark said. "We couldn't start the engine or anything so we were basically helpless in the sea."

"We were all in the water once the boat tipped around."

Kevin Lacey, from the yacht Innkeeper, said most of the crews were simply in survival mode.

He said the giant waves with drops of several metres were "like going over a speed hump that is three feet high and you are doing 90 miles an hour".