"Swell of decade" brings joy,fright on Australia's western coastline.

The "swell of the decade" has caused havoc and jubilation along the Western Australia coastline for Australian sailors and surfers alike.

Australian professional waterman and big-wave surfer Justin Holland reportedly surfed the largest wave ever ridden in Australia on Saturday morning, before succumbing to a catastrophic and potentially life threatening injury.

Holland, 35, was towed by a jet-ski onto a 60 foot, or 18 meter wave by fellow Australian and by world champion "waterman" Jamie Mitchell, at Cow Bombie - an open-ocean reef break about 2km off shore, 270km south of Perth - before 'wiping-out' and breaking his left femur.

"I pulled him onto the wave, so I was pretty excited," Mitchell told the Guardian Australia. "But when he came up and I went to get him he was just saying his leg, his leg."

Holland told Xinhua on Monday he was hit by two more mountainous waves before being rescued by Mitchell on the jet ski, thankful his wetsuits and body protection stopped a much far-worse compound fracture which would have become life-threatening.

"His leg didn't get out of the leg strap quickly enough, and I think that's what broke it," Mitchell said.

Holland said he was trying to out-run the white wash and exit the wave into a deep-water channel before 'wiping-out'.

"I sort of had no idea where the lip was, it was such a big wave," Holland said.

Holland said the worst pain was when he was getting rescued and riding on the back of the jetski to the boat ramp before being airlifted 100 kilometers to the nearest hospital.

"Absolute ride from hell on the back of the sled for the 5kms on the ride in," Holland said.

Despite having a titanium rod put in his leg and the set back to his competition season this year, Holland does not regret his decision.

Further north on the Western Australia coast, Australia's national broadcaster reported world-record holding Australian sailor Jon Sanders blamed the swell for sinking the yacht he was skippering for a friend between Darwin in Australia's northern territory to Fremantle on Saturday night, which sparked a rescue operation.

Sanders activated his EPIRB device for help after rough seas punched a hole into the deck of the yacht, which subsequently took on water.

Sanders' 1988 world record of a triple solo-circumnavigation of the world remains unbroken. Endi