Veteran sailor Andrew "Shorty" Short threw a torch to his teenage son to attract rescuers in the minutes before he died in a freak sailing accident off the Wollongong coast.
Mr Short, the skipper, and his navigator Sally Gordon died in the yacht race when their 24.4m maxi-yacht Shockwave V crashed into rocks off Flinders Islet.
Two of Mr Short's teenage sons were also on the boat that ran aground on the islet about 3am on Saturday.
Nicholas Short, 19, said that before his father lost consciousness he threw him a torch to attract rescuers.
"I got swept under the boat and thought I was going to die," he told the Seven Network.
SLIDESHOW: Two killed in yacht race crash
How the dramatic rescue unfolded
Andrew Short delivered letter to teen sailor Jessica Watson "The next thing I know I just see this torch getting thrown over to me."
Mr Short's wife Kylie said sailing meant everything to the father of five.
"If Andrew could pick a way to go, that was the way Andrew would have wanted to go, so I'm comfortable with that,'' she told the Seven Network.
"Andrew's done thousands of night races.
"Unfortunately it was just an accident, that's all it was.''
The yacht was taking part in a 92-nautical-mile Flinders Islet Race, a lead-up event to the Sydney to Hobart classic, when it struck rocks during rough conditions.
After the yacht's 4m keel hit the rocks, the boom smashed into Mr Short, 48,and Ms Gordon, 47, of Darling Point, and Nicholas, knocking them overboard.
The yacht began sinking quickly, taking water through its fractured hull, forcing the remaining 15 on board, including a 14-year-old boy, to abandon it.
The crew scrambled onto the rocky island while Nicholas remained in the 20-degree water, tossed by the large swell.
Other yachts in the race, between Sydney Harbour and Flinders Islet, rushed to rescue those in the water.
Bad weather conditions have today delayed the operation to salvage the yacht from Flinders Islet.
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