11 a wise decision
1 in january 1997 , tony bullimore was taking part in the vendee globe yacht race .
the race begins and ends in france , and goes all the way around the world .
the sailors are alone in their yachts .
it is a hard race because the yachts must not stop .
it is also very dangerous .
the race goes through some of the worst seas in the world , thousands of kilometres from land .
2 on 5 january , tony sailed into very bad weather 1,500 kilometres south of perth , australia .
there were winds of 90 kilometres per hour , and waves 15 metres high .
tony's 18 - metre yacht , the exide challenger , capsized .
it was dark and cold inside the yacht .
there was only enough air for a few days , and tony had only a small piece of chocolate to eat .
but tony was a very good sailor . he knew that if he went outside the yacht , he would die .
he decided to wait inside the yacht .
3luckily for tony ,the australian navy sent many planes and ships to find him .
they looked for almost five days , but could not find him .
then on 9 january , sailors on one of the ships , the HMAS Adelaide , saw the Exide Challenger .
it was upside down . they didn't know if tony was inside , and they didn't know if he was alive .
the sailors from the HMAS Adelaide knocked on the hull of the Exide Challenger .
they were very happy when tony knocked back !