The fisherman who spent 23.5 hours lost at sea after falling overboard while game fishing says the three young men who spotted the glint of his watch and plucked him out of the sea deserve all the recognition.

Without them, he’d be a goner.

After pulling him aboard an hour’s drive off the Coromandel coast on Wednesday, the trio wrapped him in every piece of clothing on board for the trip back to shore.

He didn’t have much to say at first, skipper Mike White tells CFM, but got chattier after some cranberries and water as they got closer to Whangamatā.

Cambridge man Will Fransen, 61, had hooked what he thought was a marlin and fallen overboard near the Aldermen Islands during a solo fishing trip on Tuesday.

He’d been intending to return on Wednesday but ended up bobbing in the sea about 55km (30 nautical miles) offshore and using his wristwatch to attract his eventual rescuers.

Fransen was full of praise for his rescuers on Thursday.

After pulling Will Fransen aboard, the trio wrapped him in every piece of clothing on board for the trip back to shore. Jackson Bright/ Photo supplied.  

“The three young boaties who saved my life, they need the recognition, they’re awesome young men.

“Everybody was brilliant, all the rescue services were really professional, beautiful people ... I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Police say it’s an “absolute miracle” he’s still alive after the 23.5-hour ordeal.

With his 40-foot boat heading out of reach, he tried to swim to the islands, but the currents swept him away.

Whangamatā Police Sergeant Will Hamilton tells the Times that as the hours ticked by, the boatie considered his chances of survival.

“He did say while he was in the water watching the sun go down over Whangamatā, the gentleman had a bit of teary moment where he thought it was going to be his last sunset.”

He endured a cold night in the ocean, too exhausted to keep swimming, visited by a shark which had “a sniff” before taking off again.

About 2pm on Wednesday, three fishermen on a boat spotted an unusual reflection near Mayor Island.

Upon investigating, they found the hypothermic and exhausted man desperately trying to get their attention using the reflection of the sun on his watch.

Will Fransen told his rescuers he was watching the sun go down over Whangamatā, and he thought it was going to be his last sunset. Christel Yardley/ Photo supplied.

“The boaties did an absolute stellar job and without a doubt saved this man’s life,” Will says.

The skipper Max White told CFM he’d come down from Auckland about 3.30am for a day of fishing.

They were in disbelief when an unidentifiable glimmer in the distance led them to a man in the water, he says.

“He was a little bit worse for wear as you would expect, he was severely dehydrated and incredibly cold to touch,” he tells CFM, “so we just wrapped him up in every bit of clothing that we had on board to try and protect him and warm him up as much as possible.”

The fisherman wasn’t wearing a life-jacket, according to CFM, but was wearing a fishing gimbal harness which White believed helped him survive.

They offered him water and cranberries and the conversation grew as they headed back to Whangamatā.

“[The weather] had played a big part in it over the last two days,” Max tells CFM.

“We have had very light wind, no real chop.

“Both in terms of his safety but also in terms of visibility, that plays a huge part.”

A St John crew was waiting at Whangamatā Marina when the boat arrived.

Seeing the boatie return to shore, Will says he was, surprisingly, in a better condition than one would think after such a major ordeal.

Police ask that all boaties report any sightings of empty powered vessels. Dive zone Whitianga.

Fate was on his side with the “warmer weather, the calm seas, the buoyancy provided by the equipment he was wearing” alongside his mindset and ability to stay calm.

“In my 15 years in the police this is the first time I’ve ever personally experienced something like this in the job, it really is heart-warming.

“Without the quick actions of the three gentlemen that retrieved him, this certainly would have had a tragic outcome.”

Will also tells the Times the “upbeat and talkative” boatie walked to the ambulance stretcher which he was “absolutely mind-blown about”.

The man told police he wanted to thank Mike, Tyler and James for rescuing him - along with all the emergency services.

As for the man’s boat, it’s still out there somewhere.

Sergeant Will Hamilton says the Rescue Co-ordination Centre was advised of the last-known direction, fuel on board and speed, so navigation warnings can be issued.

Boaties are asked to report any sightings of empty powered vessels.

“Few stories end the way this one did, and police cannot thank the eagle-eyed trio enough for making the call to investigate something that looked out of the ordinary.”

- Stuff