Harbour rescue as waka crew hits trouble

THREE people were taken to hospital with suspected hypothermia after their waka was ‘‘swamped by waves’’ on a windy Otago Harbour yesterday.

A police spokesman said emergency services received three calls about the vessel in trouble in windy conditions off Portobello Rd around 10.15am.

The members of the public who raised the alarm estimated the boat with six paddlers aboard to be about 150m offshore, as it was being ‘‘swamped by waves’’, the spokesman said.

‘‘The crew managed to paddle slightly closer to shore and a member of [Fire and Emergency New Zealand] threw a rescue rope out to the crew. They were then pulled ashore and treated by ambos,’’ he said.

The paddlers were ‘‘given copious amounts of hot tea to warm up by the Vauxhall Yacht Club’’, the spokesman said.

A St John spokeswoman said three ambulances had responded to the incident. All six of the people on the waka had suffered moderate injuries, she said.

Three were taken to Dunedin Hospital while the remaining three were treated at the scene.

Andersons Bay Sea Scouts scouts and venturers leader Shanna Verhoef said she was at the sea scouts’ Portobello Rd boat shed when a police officer stopped in to ask if anyone had seen the boat.

The sea scouts told the officer they had seen the boat about 15 minutes earlier.

The officer carried on up the road and Miss Verhoef jumped in her car and followed.

By the time police located the boat, the paddlers were probably 50m from the shore, she said. Conditions were choppy. ‘‘They were very lucky they weren’t further out,’’ she said.

‘‘Their boat was submerged, but they were still in the boat.

‘‘They were still paddling their boat back to shore at that point.’’

She told the officer at the scene she could get a boat into the water and return in about 15 minutes. Her offer was accepted, so she immediately left to launch.

At that point she believed those who had got into trouble were ‘‘probably going to be fine’’.

‘‘They were probably going to be able to paddle the boat back in, but it was . . . just in case they get separated from their boat, or just in case they get too tired, or they start getting really exhausted, or hypothermia.’’

By the time Miss Verhoef and a senior youth member arrived, the full contingent of emergency services had already arrived, a FENZ crew had the boat along the rocks and the paddlers were out of the water, she said.

‘‘Like I said, they were hopefully going to be fine, but you never know, especially in those sorts of situations — they can turn hairy fast,’’ she said.

It was initially reported that the boat had overturned.

St Clair Surf Life Saving chairman Cam Burrows said by the time his team arrived the paddlers were already ashore.

He believed the boat involved was part of the Otago division of Waka Ama.

Fire in Ice Outrigger Canoe Club president Brendon Timmins declined to comment.