C-17 assists in rescue of couple stuck on sinking sailboat off coast of Australia BY JAMES SCOTT Of The Post and Courier Staff When the second rogue wave hit, smashing the windows and flooding the engine room, Bill Todhunter realized the sailboat he and his wife, Dianne, called home was in danger of going down off the Australian coast in the frigid waters of the Indian Ocean. With the electrical system crashing, Todhunter turned the 40-foot Windana III into the waves, surrendering it to the mercy of the ocean. He then triggered the ship's emergency transmitter. Hundreds of miles away, operators in Melbourne picked up the couple's distress call. Air traffic controllers then scrambled to find a plane close enough to help. The best option, officials discovered, was a Charleston-based C-17, en route from Sydney to Perth, then on to Afghanistan. Filled with Australian soldiers and vehicles bound for the desert, the plane diverted to search for the sailboat. Nearly six miles below, tossing in the monster seas, the couple heard the ship's radio crackle to life. The voice was distinctly American. "We couldn't believe it," Bill Todhunter said this week by telephone. "My wife was elated to think your guys were overhead." While the crew established radio contact and marked the sailboat's coordinates, pilots quickly realized there was little more they could do. The couple would be forced to ride out the storm alone and hope for the best. Fifteen-foot waves and winds of up to 70 mph pounded the vessel. "A situation like that just hits you in the gut," said Capt. Nate Arkwood, 31, a co-pilot onboard. "We were racking our brains the whole time asking: 'What else can we do?' " LONG DISTANCE Karen Ward was at home that evening late last month in New South Wales, watching a weekly rescue show on television with her husband and two young children when the phone rang. Her husband answered it, turning to her a second later: "It's the American Air Force." Using the satellite phone system in the cockpit, the pilots had called the Todhunters' daughter. The crew then relayed messages back and forth between the family members. "I told them I loved them dearly," Ward recalled this week. "I told them: 'Keep your chin up.' " Bill Todhunter, who had spent the past seven years sailing around Australia with his wife of 38 years, said he was sickened by the thought of their children's anguish. "You get this selfish feeling about what we were doing to our kids," Bill Todhunter said. "The pilots kept our morale up." Maj. Joe Terry, the aircraft commander, said the gravity of the situation weighed on the crew. With rough seas and darkness, the plane could not drop low enough to make visual contact. Remaining at 32,000 feet was the best plan, allowing the plane to conserve fuel and wait longer with the couple before help arrived. "It was a very emotional experience," said Terry, 36. "We were unsure if they would live. I thought the odds might be against them, being so far out in the ocean and far away from rescue." VOICE FROM ABOVE For the next two and a half hours, the C-17 circled above. The crew, all reservists, urged the couple to remain strong. Out on deck, Bill Todhunter worked to cover the broken windows and stop the vessel from taking on more water. The American accent, he said, reminded him of his father, who was born in Illinois and later came to Australia. With fuel running low and an Australian rescue plane prepared to take over the mission, the C-17 pilots said goodbye and pushed on that night. Nearly 10 hours later, a tuna trawler arrived just before dawn, circling the sailboat until sunrise. Dianne Todhunter said at night, with the aircraft above, she felt safe. When dawn arrived -- and she could see the size of the waves -- the terror set in for her. "We were sitting in a washing machine all night," she said. "In the dark, you can feel it. When I saw it in the morning, it was terrifying." About an hour after being plucked from the sailboat, the Windana III sank. Both Bill and Dianne Todhunter are grateful to have survived. "We're here, we're alive," Bill Todhunter said. "The rescue was incredible."