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A fisherman who spent more than 24 hours at sea after his boat went overboard has revealed how he managed to avoid sharks and ditch the ship that saved his life.
Will Fransen, 61, from Cambridge, New Zealand, went fishing and tagging marlin on his own on January 2, about 55km east of the North Island near Whangamatā.
He fell off the side of his 40-foot boat after lowering the safety rail while tagging one of his catches. He tried to get back on board, but his idling boat slowly drifted away.
He was not wearing a life jacket, but had a floating harness that helped him float as the current pulled him from the nearby Alderman Islands to the Pacific Ocean.
Eventually, divers James McDonnell, Max White and Tyler Taffs spotted Mr. Fransen in the waves nearby Mayor Island once showed up because he signaled them with his reflective watch.
Will Fransen, 61, from Cambridge, New Zealand, spent 24 hours adrift at sea after falling from his 40-foot boat 35 miles offshore while tagging Marlon on January 2
Mr Fransen fell overboard after lowering the safety rail to release a catch off the Alderman Islands (pictured) before the current pulled him further into the Pacific Ocean
Mr Fransen tried to hold on to the fishing line that was still attached to his boat, but it slipped from his hand and he had to tread water.
Resigned to his fate, Mr Fransen tried to relax and watchthe beautiful sunset above his head' until he saw a shark fin swimming just meters away.
'Luckily it decided it wasn't interested. It would have been a few meters, so I could have easily dealt with it,” he says told the New Zealand Herald.
It wasn't long before the sun set and Mr. Fransen was left with only the light of the moon, heightening his paranoia as seaweed brushed his legs.
Assuming he would die, Mr. Fransen routinely drained the water from his harness to ensure it kept him afloat even if he fell unconscious.
If he died adrift, the 61-year-old knew his family would have no claim on his life insurance policy if rescue teams were unable to locate the body.
He continued to tread water all night as the weather deteriorated and the current continued to push him towards Mayor Island, 34km east of Whangamatā.
When the wind started to pick up, Mr. Fransen knew that fewer boats would sail out as the waves continued to crash over his head and push him underwater.
He began desperately shaking his wristwatch at nearby ships in an attempt to reflect the sun's glare back at them to get their attention.
Mr Fransen claimed that the longer he was adrift, the more boats he would realize were not really there, as he began to hallucinate from lack of sleep.
Mr Fransen was eventually rescued the next day by three fishermen after attracting their attention by reflecting the sun back at them on his watch.
As the water calmed, Mr. Fransen continued to reflect the sun on his watch in the direction of passing boats, until Mr. McDonnell noticed him while fishing with friends.
“James, who was driving… in his words he said, 'I saw this waving arm and thought, there can't be any waving arms here,'” Mr. Fransen recalled.
The boat immediately sped towards Mr Fransen as Mr McDonnell, Mr White and Mr Taffs pulled him aboard and provided drinks and blankets.
The trio said Mr Fransen was “super cold and severely dehydrated” when they found him about 10 miles off the back of Mayor Island.
As the boat sailed back to land, Mr. Fransen drank warm bottles of water and cranberry juice and rested his aching limbs that had spent the night paddling.
By the time they got back to Whangamatā, Mr Fransen walked himself to a waiting ambulance who treated his burned face and took him to hospital.
He has since been released in a healthy condition and now plans to find his abandoned boat still adrift in the Pacific Ocean off the North Island.
Two planes scout the area in search of the boat that has yet to be found.