Mark Maidment, the crew member who broke his leg aboard Pete Goss’s Spirit of Mystery when the boat suffered a knock down on Tuesday, must wait until Saturday before being taken off the boat for treatment.

Australia is sending a rescue boat to Mr Maidment, 44, after an airlift was scrapped due to rolling seas and dangerous conditions. Spirit of Mystery was struck by freak weather off Kangeroo Island, near southern Australia.

Usually a casualty would be transferred to a life raft and towed behind the vessel, from which a helicopter can winch the crewman to safety. However, the life raft was washed overboard in the knock down.

The rescue has attracted some controversy in Australia. One reader of the Melbourn Herald Sun said: ‘Peter Goss should re-enact how a broken leg was attended to 150 years ago, on his own. Again, Australians tax payers money to the rescue, at a time when we can least afford it.’

Another said: ‘Fed up with all of these so called Adventures that they do on there own accord and when in trouble the tax payer has to pay to bail them out. If you choose to be an idiot do so at your own expense as there is no need for these sailing adventures at all.’

The Spirit of Mystery, a specially-built wooden Cornish lugger, set off from Newlyn, Cornwall, in November 2008. The crew are retracing the journey made by a group of Cornishmen 154 years ago, who travelled to Australia hoping to mine gold. The remainder of the crew hope to arrive at their final destination of Melbourne on 9 or 10 March.