Fisherman survives marathon swim to shore

A fisherman washed overboard by a rogue wave survived a roving shark, jellyfish stings and muscle cramps during a marathon six-hour swim to shore on the NSW north coast.
The survival story has amazed police, who only realised 25-year-old Tweed Heads man Andy Wilson was missing when his unmanned runabout was spotted circling off Kirra Beach on Tuesday afternoon.
The find sparked an air and sea search of the seas around the Queensland/NSW border.
His best mate, Simon Deane, said one search boat passed close to the keen angler on two occasions but failed to detect him.
"He was waving to it but they couldn't see him, so he decided he better keep swimming," Mr Deane told the Brisbane Times online publication.
Mr Wilson, spurred on by thoughts of his fiancee, decided the only way to survive was to save himself by making the marathon swim to shore - without a lifejacket and in extremely strong currents.
"He knew this wasn't the end for him. He knew he had Katie back on shore. Nothing was going to stop him getting back to the rocks," Mr Deane said.
"He pointed to land and said to himself I'm not dying out here.
"He said he decided to swim hard and swim fast."
If the battle to shore wasn't hard enough, Mr Wilson endured painful bluebottle stings and muscle cramps and spotted a shark four metres in front of him.
"It wasn't a big shark but he knew it was a shark because of his experience as a fisherman," Mr Deane said.
The young builder powered on until he reached Fingal Bay, where he clambered over rocks.
"He was so exhausted when he got up the rocks that he lay down and had a sleep for about 20 minutes," Mr Deane said.
He then knocked on a stranger's front door for help.
Exhausted and nursing cuts, he then called Katie to say he was alive.
The ordeal started about 11.30am when Mr Wilson set off in six-metre fibreglass boat to Nine Mile Reef, about 6km off the coast, and east of Cook Island, to fish for mackerel.
Police said the vessel was hit by a large wave and he was washed overboard.
The sight of the vessel powering off without him must have been terrifying but its mysterious appearance off Kirra about 5.15pm alerted authorities and sparked the major search.
Police said it was a miraculous story of survival.
"Obviously he was fairly exhausted after swimming for what we believe would be over six hours - a distance of probably 7.5km," Tweed Heads Police inspector Darren Steel said.
"This man was a strong swimmer and was obviously quite physically fit to have continued on for such a long time."