Stranded American rescued off Chile

Story Highlights

• Nearest ship was 400 miles; bad weather made rescue take three days
• Barnes will reach land in a day, then fly to Santiago and then U.S.
• Barnes has injury on right leg, but otherwise in good shape
• Californian set out 2 months ago to sail solo around the world

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SANTIAGO, Chile (CNN) -- Fishermen fought foul weather to rescue an American adrift in his yacht 500 miles off the tip of South America early Friday, and he was found in good condition, Chilean navy officials said.

California native Ken Barnes, 47, had been adrift at sea since Tuesday after a storm damaged his private boat and interrupted his attempted solo sailing trip around the world two months after he set off.

The Chilean Navy had picked up distress signals from Barnes' beacon Tuesday, and on Wednesday a navy plane spotted the yacht.

At the request of the navy, crew on the Polar Pesca 1, a private Chilean fishing vessel, rescued Barnes at 1:48 a.m. (4:48 a.m. ET) Friday.

"It was very, very hard [to coordinate]," Chile's director of maritime security and operations, Juan Carlos Munita, said of the rescue. "It was a very far and isolated area where Mr. Barnes was found."

"That place is not normal for a fishing vessel," he said.

Although Barnes was in good health, he "had an injury on his right leg, but it's under control now," Munita said.

The rescue effort came just in time, as Barnes' supplies were running low, his longtime girlfriend Cathy Chambers told CNN on Thursday. (Watch the ship stranded in what is called "the graveyard" )

"He had thought he was being rescued right away so [he] had gotten rid of his medical supplies," Chambers said. "And he's tired. He's probably very hungry ... he's hanging in there, though."

Upon learning Friday that he had been rescued, she told CNN: "I'm excited, relieved, thankful."

But, "I won't feel totally good until I can actually see his picture and I can hear his voice," she added.

Over a broken phone connection Friday, according to The Associated Press, Chambers, Barnes' mother, and his 21-year-old twin daughters heard him say in a calm voice: "I love you. I'm on the fishing boat headed for Punta Arenas, and I'm OK and everything's OK.

"I should be there in a day or two."

It took three days to reach Barnes because the closest ship was about 400 miles away, and sending an aircraft was difficult because of the bad weather, Munita said.

The navy is overseeing the rescue operation Friday. It will take about a day to reach land. Barnes will then fly to Santiago and then to California, where his family is waiting.

Barnes had been at sea for two months when a gusty storm with 40-foot waves snapped both masts on his 44-foot yacht, dubbed "Privateer," leaving him hundreds of miles off the Chilean coast. (See map of his route)

Barnes used his satellite phone Tuesday to call his girlfriend in California and reported he needed help.

Before the rescue, Barnes' father, Ken Barnes Sr., said the family was "very encouraged by the fact that they found him and they're going after him."

"Right now, our spirits are a lot better than they were a day or two ago."

According to Barnes' Web site, the trip had been a dream of his for several years. A divorced dad, Barnes said that since the age of 10, he has "liked the solitude of sailing, the adventure, the adrenaline associated with the chance encounter of the unknown."

He said he sold a pool business he started from the ground up 20 years ago to pay for the trip.

CNN's Leslie Wiggins contributed to this report.