Dead man had boat business in Bluff

The man who died on a remote Fiordland beach after a rough ocean swim on Saturday was 57-year-old Peter John McKenzie, of Invercargill, a well-known Southland businessman.

McKenzie was the brother of Bluff identity Morrell McKenzie who died in 2015 after his truck went over the edge of a wharf at South Port.

On Saturday afternoon, Peter McKenzie and two other men swam for about an hour through Foveaux Strait after their boat was swamped by waves.

Once ashore, one of the men hiked 2 kilometres to get help at a nearby lodge, Wairaurahiri Hut.

However, McKenzie died at the beach before emergency services arrived.

McKenzie was the managing director of Bluff company McKenzie Marine and Mackraft which he started with brother Morrell in 1986. The jetboat-building business began when Morrell built a boat for his uncle, then one for a friend and one for himself. The company now sells a variety of jetboats in countries including Peter McKenzie, left, and friend Willie Calder in 2016. McKenzie ran a jetboat building business in Bluff.

New Zealand, Australia, Israel and Austria. The brothers competed on the world stage – Morrell was a former national and world champion jetboater, with Peter the co-driver.

Bluff oyster fisherman Willie Calder said McKenzie’s death was just starting to hit home. ‘‘Just shock at the moment, can’t believe it. Very careful sort of a bloke and just can’t believe something like this would happen.’’

McKenzie, a family man who

lived in Invercargill and worked in Bluff, did the engineering work on Calder’s boat.

He was an excellent worker, just as Morrell had been, and would be sadly missed by the fishing industry, Calder said.

‘‘It is a bloody shame, lost both of them, top workers and bloody good blokes too.’’

Sergeant Tod Hollebon said the two survivors were discharged from hospital on Saturday night.