STOCKTON, Calif. (KGO) -- Three men from Stockton were rescued in the Pacific Ocean when their sailboat was ravaged by Hurricane Julio in Hawaii.
The sailors spent 24 hours, stranded in some 30-foot waves, battered by winds of up to 115-miles per hour. Crew members from a Matson cargo ship rescued them about 400 miles north of Oahu.
The hurricane conditions caused the sailboat's mast to break off from its hull.
"I was sitting the galley, reading a book and all of the stuff on the shelf on the starboard side just came off and flew into me," said Lee Nealy.
"Water just filled up my quarters and I got flipped over, and I thought instantly that was it," said Mike Vanway.
The men had been sailing to Thailand.