LUCKY to be alive, but ready to do it again – that's the two Newton Abbot rowers plucked to safety as their world record bid came to grief in the storm-tossed waters of the Indian Ocean.

Simon Chalk, 29, and 41-year-old Bill Greaves set out from Kalbarri in Western Australia to row the 4,400-nautical-mile trip to Reunion Island off the coast of Madagascar, on May 15.

They were only two days into their epic trip in their 23ft boat, Elssea, when disaster struck in darkness at the height of a fierce storm.

'We were both in the cabin,' said Mr Chalk, a property developer. 'Bill was on watch and then we were hit by something.

'We don't know what it was, if it was a whale or whatever, but the boat just tipped upside down.'

Mr Greaves added: 'I don't know what happened. Our boat overturned and we found ourselves in the water, clinging to the hull. It was pitch black, we were very cold and the sea was very rough.

'We spent 15 hours in shark-infested waters and were bleeding and battered, but it's a relief to be alive.

'There were a couple of occasions when I thought 'this is it,' said Mr Greaves, who works as a doorman at the Route 66 Club in Torquay.

The Ocean Rowing Society which was monitoring their record attempt by satellite revealed that the men activated their emergency distress beacon and the Australian Search and Rescue Service immediately launched an aerial search for the men.

They were spotted after an area 60 miles off the Geraldton coast was searched and a merchant ship, the Bulk Africa, was diverted to rescue them. A helicopter transferred the exhausted men to the mainland.

'We owe the search team our lives,' Mr Greaves said. 'They were great and very supportive.

'It could have been great. But we haven't given up and we'll return next March.'

Lesley Bowden, Mr Chalk's mother said that her son had rung her on Saturday and although the two were battered and bruised they were happy to be alive.

'He's been planning this trip for ages and it's a shame they couldn't achieve what they planned, but I'm relieved they are alive and I'm very proud of Simon.'

The pair aimed to beat the 64-day crossing of the Indian Ocean set by Sweden's Anders Svedlund. They had to fight the westward flowing South Equatorial Current and had started a system where one of the pair would row for four hours while the other rested.

Kenneth Crutchlow, executive director of the Ocean Rowing Society, said this week: 'I should think they are devastated that they got two days into their trip and somehow lost the boat.

'I should imagine they are greatly relieved however to be rescued and no longer sitting on an upturned boat in the dark in the middle of the ocean.'

Mr Chalk used to work for BT where he travelled extensively organising global marketing event teams. For the past five years he has been involved with marine challenges and before this record attempt had spent 164 days at sea, travelling more than 14,500 miles.

In 1996 he crewed on the yacht Save The Children in the BT Global Challenge completing the second leg from Rio De Janeiro to Wellington. They were awarded the Commercial Union trophy for rounding Cape Horn first.

The following year Mr Chalk and partner George Rock rowed the Atlantic in Cellnet Atlantic Challenger, completing the crossing in 64 days. Apart from the eventual race winners, the two were the only other team to take the lead in the race and they broke the pre-race world record by nine days.

Later this year he plans an attempt on the single-handed Atlantic rowing record in a self-righting multi-hulled rowing boat.

Mr Greaves is an ex-Grenadier guard who left the army in 1979. Although this was his first major sea trip he is a qualified diver with a great deal of diving experience.

Both men are expected back in Britain within a couple of weeks.