Three people pulled from sinking ship in dramatic rescue off the coast of Sydney

Two men and a teenage boy have been winched to safety after their boat sunk off the coast of Sydney during a shark-fishing competition.

The trio were rescued from their sinking vessel by the Westpac rescue helicopter about 37km from the coast of Coledale, south of the Royal National Park. 

Their boat, the Temptress, was almost completely submerged by the time they had called triple zero and were winched to safety on Friday afternoon. 

In footage of the rescue, the teenager is pulled from the water first before rescuers return to the sinking ship for his dad. 

The third man was able to swim to a nearby boat which delivered him to shore. 

The father and son were flown to the rescue base at La Parouse, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, to be treated by paramedics. 

Tony Waller, a spokesman for the Westpac helicopter, said rescuers were unaware the group were at a shark-fishing competition. 

'They were out there for a shark-fishing contest which was kinda nice to know after the fact, before we winched our rescue crewman in,' he told 9News. 

Mr Waller praised the group for staying calm. 

'They did everything right,' he said. 

'They stayed with the partially submerged boat, and they had their lifejackets on.'