Kayaker in sea ordeal

Any longer in the ocean and Paul Gaastra may not have survived.

The Hamilton man was severely hypothermic and clinging to his home-made kayak when rescuers plucked him from the darkness off the coast of a remote Northland beach.

He’d been caught out in rapidly rising seas for three hours after capsizing while attempting to circumnavigate New Zealand.

It was a ‘‘fluke’’ that a NZ Defence Force aircraft coming in to land at Whenuapai airbase picked up his personal locator beacon and raised the alarm on Wednesday night.

And this isn’t the first time the 58-year-old paddler has struck trouble on his sea expedition.

In August last year police rescued Gaastra after an outrigger malfunction sent him overboard at an Opotiki beach.

He built a pedal-powered kayak with outriggers to balance the boat.

Speaking at the time, Gaastra said he gave up a career in horticulture to pursue his dream of kayaking the coastline of New Zealand.

‘‘Back in the 1990s, I read about this Canadian guy who travelled around in a kayak by pedal power,’’ he told the Whakatane Beacon.

‘‘I’ve wanted to do the same ever since.’’

But on Wednesday evening as he headed north from Bethells Beach he struck trouble 20km north of the Kaipara Harbour.

The swell on the coast was large and building.

‘‘He got overturned by a wave and wasn’t able to get back into his kayak,’’ Northland Rescue Helicopter chief pilot Pete Turnbull said.

‘‘He was in the water for about three hours before he was pulled out and was severely hypothermic and not in a good state.’’

A personal locator beacon saved his life, Turnbull said.

‘‘It wasn’t a powerful signal, we didn’t pick it up until we were two miles away’’.

The Northland helicopter was first to arrive at the remote Ripiro Beach, off the west coast not far from Dargaville.

Hovering above, Turnbull could see the man floating just outside the breaker line.

‘‘He was in serious trouble. He couldn’t break through it to get to the shore, the current kept him out.’’

Turnbull said the man was wearing an inflation device and clinging to the overturned kayak about 300 metres from shore.

Barely visible as the waves swept past, crew dropped three torches into the ocean.

‘‘We’d found him but we kept losing him because he had no lights – the torches worked well as a reference.’’

Winching is a big part of what the NEST crew train for, Turnbull said, and this one was ‘‘impressive’’.

Andrew Ferguson – an advanced paramedic and rescue swimmer – was lowered down to pluck Gaastra from the ocean. Exhausted, he simply ‘‘let go’’. ‘‘He was winched up with the rescue strop assisted by two paramedics.

‘‘ I was really impressed with their work.’’

By then Gaastra was ‘‘barely coherent’’ and suffering from severe hypothermia.

Had the man not been carrying a distress beacon he would not have survived, RSCC Mission Coordinator Dave Wilson said.

NEST flew the man to Whangarei Hospital in a serious condition at 9pm.

A hospital spokesperson confirmed he was discharged on Thursday.

‘‘We urge everyone going out on the water, into the bush, or working in remote locations such as farms, to carry a beacon and make sure it is registered with emergency contact details,’’ Wilson said.