VETERAN English sailor Peter Turner will never forget the crashing sound when his yacht smashed into a reef near Willis Island, 420km east of Cairns.

Mr Turner, 70, and fellow sailor Tim Wood, 33, clung to their stricken 17m vessel for three hours yesterday morning before being rescued by an Emergency Management Queensland helicopter.

"Our charts didn’t show any reef in that area at all, we just hit this reef at four o’clock this morning really heavily, it was an amazing crash," he told The Cairns Post.

"Immediately she turned right over on to her side and started leaking water and we had a rough time for three hours."

Mr Turner and Mr Wood were on a voyage around the world in their yacht Asolare, part of the World Arc sailing tournament. They were about 93km northwest of Willis Island at the time.

After striking the reef about 4am, the two men called for aid and then salvaged what they could before clambering on to the side of the vessel.

Mr Turner, a sailor with 50 years’ experience, praised rescuers for their efforts.

"These guys out there, the rescue helicopter and all the crew have been unbelievable," he said.

"I’d never been rescued before and didn’t know what to expect but they arrived on the scene really quickly.

"I just feel very sad that I’ve lost a super yacht that was less than a year old."

The Asolare was worth about $1.7 million.

Although it didn’t sink, it was considered unsalvageable and is expected to break up rapidly.

Despite his ordeal, Mr Turner kept his sense of humour.

"I could see some lovely fish and some nice reef below me," he said.

"Nowhere is nice to crash into a reef, but if I had to choose anywhere, this was a pretty good place to choose." The cost to taxpayers from the rescue was unavailable yesterday, an EMQ spokesperson in Brisbane said.

An Australian Marine Safety Authority spokesman said they received the emergency call just after 4am when New Zealand Radio Taupo picked up a mayday message on HF radio.

The men activated their 406 MHz EPIRB so rescuers could find and identify the yacht.

An AMSA aircraft spotted the yacht and dropped flares nearby in order to make their position obvious to the rescue chopper.

EMQ senior aircraft officer Paul Tongue said both sailors were in "good condition" when they found them.

"We managed to get the guys onto the side of the boat using the side rails as a platform which kept them quite clear of loose rigging,’’ he said.

"It was quite a stable platform to winch them off"

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