Kai Sato recalled how he spent days crying after being left stranded at sea while attempting a solo sail to Hawaii, only to be miraculously rescued more than a month later

A California man who was left stranded on a sailboat in the Pacific Ocean for more than a month has miraculously lived to tell the tale after being found floating off Hawaii

Kai Sato, 39, set sail from the Catalina Islands on June 7 as he embarked on an attempt to complete his first solo sail across the Pacific. But he encountered a major problem just two weeks into his journey when his mast snapped, leaving him floating helplessly in the sea.

Facing dire circumstances, Sato recalled how he spent days crying. “I cried for a whole week, just drifting south, like miserable,” Sato told Hawaii News Now.

The sailor's fate appeared so bleak that he even considered taking his own life. “I felt like I was going to just try to turn my motor on and just suffocate, to kill myself," he said.

Sato attempted to motor back to shore, but he ran out of gas and the current began to drag him further away from land.

“I was literally like a sitting duck, just getting taken south by the current going way off course,” he recalled. After spending five days contemplating the situation, Sato took action as he began make-shift repairs to his boat using PVC pipes and kayak paddles.

The repairs helped, but it still took Sato a month to make his way back into the shipping lane from California to Hawaii. The journey was dismal. By July 11, Sato had run out of water.

He survived by filling buckets with seawater and tying plastic bags to seal it off in order to collect condensation. “I was just licking that to survive,” Sato said.

For food, he survived on mostly oatmeal and fish and squid that landed in his boat. Sato revealed that he stayed sane during the lonely journey by calling out for guidance, meditating and talking to the water and wind.

He recalled that he felt the presence of his uncle, who he'd sailed from California to Hawaii with as a young boy. Then, last Tuesday, Sato finally had his prayers answered when he spotted a Pasha Hawaii ship.

The crew from the ship dropped a rope ladder to Sato, who climbed on board. He was given a suite on the ship alongside fresh clothes and plenty of food.

Recalling the moment he was rescued, Sato said: “Oh my God, yeah, like ecstatic, you know what I mean? Like I was like crying and like so happy, and then they got me fruit and water, and yeah, they were so good to me, those guys."

The ordeal hasn't put Sato off sailing. He is already planning his next trip, intending to sail to the Philippines in a bigger boat.