Yachtswoman drinks urine in five-day survival ordeal. David Glenn reports from Auckland 8/3/06

An Australian yachtswoman who was swept out to sea in her tender south of Langkawi in the Andaman Sea after failing to make it back to her yacht after a night out ashore, drank her own urine in a five-day ordeal in intense heat before being rescued by local fishermen.

Dominique Courteille, a 57-year-old mother of four, was attempting to return to her 11m yacht Sonnet after an evening ashore with friends in the Butang islands, but strong tidal streams and a fresh breeze were too much for her outboard-powered boat and she was swept seawards.

“I could see islands in the distance and just kept rowing towards them, but the current was too strong,” said Ms Courteille after her rescue. Her crew back on board the yacht had set out to search for her among the surrounding islands and were so convinced that they would never see her again dropped flowers over the stern of the yacht as they made their way to the port of Satun.

But a day later a fishing boat from the Yee Long Trading Company found the exhausted Ms Courteille and she was returned to safety.