The Coast Guard did n't think Ron Ingraham could survive , stuck in a 25-foot sailboat for days as waves swelled 15 to 20 feet high . His son did . `` I do n't feel like he 's dead , '' Zakary Ingraham told a Coast Guard official nine days ago , after learning their search was ending . `` I do n't feel it . '' He was right . Ron Ingraham was picked up Tuesday morning about 64 miles ( 103 kilometers ) south of Honolulu , `` weak , hungry and dehydrated '' and -- most importantly -- alive . His rescue came 12 days after he made his first distress call , a difficult stretch even for a veteran fisherman . But he was n't beaten up enough to lose his priorities . According to his son , the 67-year-old Ron Ingraham told his rescuers , `` We ai n't leaving without my boat . '' So the sailor and his boat headed back to shore Wednesday . What will his dad do now that he 's back on land ? Will he relax , take some time off , maybe look for a less dangerous profession ? `` I 'm sure he 's going to go fishing as soon as he 's able , '' Zakary Ingraham said by phone from Missouri . `` Like tomorrow . '' Son : Ron Ingraham is tough , strong , resourceful . Some people in their late 60s might be enjoying retirement or , at least , reining it in a few notches as life slows down . Not Ron Ingraham , whose son describes him as resourceful , physically strong and tough . `` You know who Rambo is ? '' Zakary Ingraham joked . `` Rambo has a picture of my dad on his wall . '' Fishing is his life and livelihood . Ron Ingraham lives on his boat and `` that 's pretty much all he 's got , '' his son said -- explaining his insistence his battered vessel , which he named Malia , be towed back to shore . He set off solo around Thanksgiving from Molokai on what should have been a normal trip , like many others he 'd made over the years . It did n't turn out that way . He made distress calls on the holiday , indicating his boat was taking on water . Those calls spurred a search that would end up covering 12,000 square miles . It included an MH-65 helicopter , an HC-130 airplane and the 110-foot Coast Guard Cutter Kiska . But none of them could find Ron Ingraham or his boat . 'Mayday ; small boat , in danger of sinking ' On December 1 , the Coast Guard called off its search . Zakary Ingraham said he was told that airplanes , but not satellites , picked up his father 's emergency beacon -- suggesting it either had a weak battery or his boat was submerged . With rocky seas , the weather was n't cooperating either . `` With the conditions the way they are , we could n't find your dad 's boat , '' Zakary Ingraham recalled a Coast Guard official telling him . `` We think it 's sunk . '' In fact , Ron Ingraham 's boat was still afloat . And on Tuesday , he decided to give the distress call one more try . His life depended on it . `` This is a mayday , mayday , mayday , '' said Ingraham . `` ... Small boat , in danger of sinking . '' The U.S. Coast Guard heard the call and immediately dispatched the closest available boat -- the USS Paul Hamilton , a U.S. Navy destroyer , then about 14 miles away . They found Ingraham 's masts broken and him using an auxiliary sail trying to get closer to land , his friend and fellow fisherman Dedrick Manaba told CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now . And , of course , there was Ingraham himself -- weary and battered , but still going , much to the relief of his friends and family . ' I was going backwards all night long ' It all started , Ron Ingraham said , when a simple plan to get food and water before dark one night went awry after the weather took a turn for the worse . `` I tried all through the night . ... I could n't make it . I was going backwards all night long , '' he told CNN affiliate KHNL/KGMB after his rescue . At one point , a massive wave crashed into his sailboat . The boat mast hit the water , Ingraham said , and so did he . `` But I had a rope on me ( and ) towed myself back in , '' Ingraham said . From there , he had no choice but to go where the current took him . Searchers had struggled to find him because weather pulled him hundreds of miles away from the area where they 'd been looking , he said . `` I was way out there , and I was out of water , but I hydrated on fish , '' he said . `` I 'm a fisherman , so I caught fish . '' `` It was n't as a good as a sushi bar , '' he said . But it was how he survived . `` He 's alive after 12 days at sea , '' his son Zakary Ingraham said . `` I could n't be happier . ''
Ron Ingraham says he survived at sea by catching and eating fish . The Hawaii man made a distress call , 12 days after his first , saying his boat may sink . Authorities tracked him down , finding him `` weak , hungry and dehydrated '' His son predicts his father will resume fishing as soon as he can .