A former Olympian whose boat capsized during a months-long transatlantic expedition said the ordeal was his “worst nightmare” come true after 73 days at sea.

Rower Adam Kreek, a gold medallist at the Beijing Olympics, arrived at Vancouver airport Saturday, seven days after he and his three crewmates were rescued 600 kilometres north of Puerto Rico. Rough waves hit their vessel, causing their boat to capsize despite having been designed to right itself if it overturned.

Kreek was making the trip alongside fellow B.C. man Markus Pukonen, and Americans Jordan Hanssen and Pat Flemming. The team was on Day 73 of an 80-day, 6,600-kilometre journey from the west coast of Africa to Miami to promote environmental conservation and conduct gather scientific data.

In an interview with CTV News, Kreek described the harrowing final moments on the overturned boat.

Kreek had been in the cabin with Flemming, who was closing the hatch door, when one wave came and knocked the boat, placing it into the path of a second wave.

“That second wave came and finished us off,” he said.

When the cabin started to fill with water, Kreek pushed Flemming out, looked up, and spotted an air pocket.

“So I swam up, I took a deep breath of air, and took a second to poise and compose myself,” he said. “Then dove under the water, looked for the light of the cabin door swam out, felt my way around and got up to the surface.”

Kreek said being in the cabin when the boat capsized was his biggest fear.

“When I was thinking of worst-case scenarios of what could happen, on that boat, was to be in that cabin as it was filling up with water. We knew that was a risk.”

But his survival instincts kicked in.

“I think what went through my head is: ‘Life is good, it’s time to live.’”

The quartet triggered their distress signal and began deploying safety gear, putting into practice a contingency plan they’d rehearsed intensively months before.

After a short team meeting during which they discussed a survival plan should no one respond to the distress signal, the crew attempted to flip the overturned boat.

Unsuccessful after three hours, they sat on the life raft. It would be another hour before a U.S. Coast Guard aircraft appeared overhead.

“I remember Pat, who’s sitting in the life raft, he says, ‘we’re going to be OK.’ Everyone was cheering,” Kreek said.

Once they knew more help was on the way, the crew focused on conserving their energy for a rescue operation, he said.

They spent another seven hours at sea before a diverted freighter arrived and rescued the crew, giving them food, blankets and cots.

“It’s a law of the sea that everyone takes care of each other and when anyone’s at risk you just do it and we’re definitely grateful for that,” Kreek said.

They arrived safely on dry land in Puerto Rico.

Kreek said now that he is back on the West Coast, he’s “thrilled” to go home and reunite with his wife and toddler son.

“I’ve been away for over four months, so it’s a bit of an adjustment for everybody, let alone having to deal with the fact that daddy almost died in a boat-capsizing event,” Kreek said.

Crewmates Pukonen and Hanssen, meanwhile, are attempting to recover the overturned vessel and all the scientific research, footage and equipment the crew was forced to abandon at sea.

Kreek is urging people to visit O.A.R. Northwest website and contribute to their fundraising effort. He said the tugboat rental alone is costing $10,000 a day.

“If people out there believe in marine conservation, believe in outdoor adventure, believe in scientific exploration, that’s what our goals … were on this journey,” he said.

And, with boating season fast approaching, Kreek is also using his expedition as a reminder to boaters about the dangers of being on the open waters. Boaters should ensure they have safety gear, including flotation devices, an emergency life raft, and locator beacons, he said.

“Because we had all that safety training, we survived, we lived.”

Kreek said despite all the preparation, Mother Nature can be unpredictable.

“The ocean’s big, it’s violent and it doesn’t care. Sometimes you just get some bad luck out there.”

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Norma Reid