Rescue crews near solo Gold Coast sailor Xavier Doerr stranded in Great Australian Bight

A solo sailor has spent the night battling giant waves and severe winds in the Great Australian Bight after running into trouble hundreds of kilometres from help.

Xavier Doerr, 22, was forced to trigger an emergency beacon while attempting to complete a non-stop and unassisted circumnavigation of Australia.

His planned route would have broken two records, also making him the youngest sailor to circumnavigate Australia on the smallest boat.

Authorities established radio and visual contact with Mr Doerr by air after picking up an emergency beacon signal shortly before 5pm on Friday.

Two merchant vessels have been diverted to the 6.5-metre sailing yacht’s location about 630 kilometres west of Kangaroo Island in South Australia, and 740km southeast of Esperance in Western Australia.

Winds gusting over 100 kilometres an hour and six-metre waves are expected to make rescue difficult even after the vessels make contact some time on Saturday.

Aerial footage showed Mr Doerr’s stricken yacht being tossed around by large waves with its sails bundled on the deck.

Mr Doerr’s shore manager, Lee Randall, said in a video on Saturday the sailor lost communication for ‘an extended period of time yesterday afternoon’.

‘At that point in time he had sustained some injuries and there was some water ingress into the boat, and he genuinely feared for his safety,’ Mr Randall said.

‘AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) have now made direct contact with Xavier from the plane, from a jet that was dispatched from Perth, and they are currently continuing to monitor him and will continue to do so until he reaches dry land.’

Two AMSA challenger class rescue aircraft remained overhead overnight and communicated with Mr Doerr via VHF radio.

An RAAF aircraft also arrived at the vessel’s location on Saturday.

Mr Doerr’s shore manager, Lee Randall, said the sailor ‘sustained some injuries’ before setting off his emergency beacon signal shortly before 5pm on Friday

AMSA issued an emergency broadcast and diverted a bulk carrier to the area, with the vessel expected to arrive about 11.30am (AEST).

Another bulk carrier is also making its way to the location.

The ship’s masters will need to assess their ability to safely conduct a rescue in extremely rough weather conditions, according to AMSA.