A Lithuanian man rowing across the Pacific Ocean is alive but taking a battering from Tropical Cyclone Alfred as he awaits rescue off the Queensland coast.
Aurimas Mockus activated his emergency beacon late on Friday night about 740km east of Mackay and 90km west of the cyclone.
He was battling strong winds and heavy seas aboard a solo ocean rowing boat travelling from San Diego to Brisbane when he sent for help.
A Cairns-based Challenger jet didn't spot the tiny vessel on Saturday but managed to make contact with Mr Mockus, who said he was tired.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority confirmed it had communicated with the adventurer through an interpreter via the rescue aircraft.
"Mr Mockus has reported he has no major injuries," it said in a statement on Sunday afternoon.
A Royal Australian Air Force aircraft took overhead images of the rowboat as it was smashed by massive waves in the Coral Sea.
HMAS Choules, a 16,000-tonne Royal Australian Navy landing ship, is en route from Brisbane to assist but not expected to arrive until Monday morning.
It was one of two naval vessels used to evacuate about 1000 residents and tourists stranded in the Victorian town of Mallacoota during the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.
Mr Mockus set off on the 12,000km journey in October and was days away from reaching his final destination after rowing about 70 nautical miles a day.
He was bracing for the category two cyclone on Thursday, saying the next day would be crucial.
"About to get maximum power from a passing typhoon," the long-distance ocean rower wrote on social media with a picture of him making a peace sign.
"You really don't need to paddle, you just need to survive two days and it will be better."
A subsequent video showed his boat bobbing up and down in turbulent swell.
Weather conditions have since eased but Coral Sea is still within the influence of the cyclone, with winds up to 100km/h and five to seven-metre seas, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority reported.
The storm was about 515km east of Rockhampton and 370km northeast of Bundaberg as of 10am AEDT on Sunday.
It was expected to make landfall as a category two system on Thursday but the weather bureau is not sure exactly where it will cross the coast.
Few ocean rowers have crossed the Pacific solo without stopping.
Brit Peter Bird was the first in 1983, followed by countryman John Beeden in 2015 and Australian Michelle Lee in 2023.
Fellow Australian Tom Robinson, who was attempting to become the youngest to accomplish the feat albeit with a break in the Cook Islands, spent 265 days at sea before he was rescued off Vanuatu in 2023.
The 24-year-old Queenslander's rowboat capsized, leaving him clinging naked to the hull for about 14 hours before he was rescued by a cruise ship that made a 200km detour.
Paralympic gold medal-winning rower Angela Madsen perished in 2020 when the American attempted a smaller journey from California to Hawaii.
Mr Mockus' crossing was partly inspired by Ukraine's bloody conflict with Russia having previously provided support to Ukrainian soldiers and civilians from the first days of the war, according to his website.
