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The men set off from Hanging Rock shortly after 9am, however before they left they called through their details to Batemans Bay Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol, reporting problems with their on-board radio.

“They left us with a mobile number and headed out to sea,” the Coastal Patrol’s Dave Greenshields said. “They were due back at 3.15pm.

“At 3.30pm we became concerned, by 4pm we were trying to contact them, and by 5pm the Eden water police had been called.”

It was a frustrating turn of events for Batemans Bay Coastal Patrol members, who were unable to join the search party because of inadequate equipment.

“It’s absolutely frustrating when things like this happen because neither of our boats can go out that far,” Mr Greenshields said.

He said it was unfortunate other people had to be called on to do Batemans Bay Coastal Patrol’s job - in this case Ulladulla Coastal Patrol.

Shortly before 6pm the men released an Emergency Position Indicating Beacon and their location off Durras was identified.

Mr Greenshields said the EPIB saved the men from a potentially life-threatening night at sea.

“The worse case scenario is that if they didn’t have the EPIRB on board we would still be searching for them now,” he said.

Ulladulla Coastal Patrol located the men, who Mr Greenshields said were cold and happy to be found.