Night-time rescue saves kayak mates
Farmers’ spell of fishing turns into alarming life-and-death situation
Two Waikato fishermen are lucky to be alive after being blown nearly 8km out to sea in their kayaks, sparking a dramatic night-time rescue after a severe weather change on Wednesday.
The two men were well-prepared, with marine-grade VHF radios and an emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) — something the Raglan Coastguard has credited with saving their lives.
On Wednesday afternoon, the weather conditions looked ideal with just a
0.7m swell and light winds and Te Kuiti farmers Rex de Rooy,
51, and Earl Murray,
57, decided to go fishing. A severe wind change was forecast later that evening, but the duo expected to be ashore well before it.
They set off from Kiritehere Beach about
1pm, in the best conditions the experienced pair had been out in. They paddled about a kilometre south, around a headland, and perched about 200m offshore, catching their share of kaimoana.
About 3.45pm they decided to head back but what had been a
30-minute paddle there, turned out to be a much trickier return.
The wind started to pick up and they battled for a good hour trying to paddle directly into it but barely made it to the headland.
“We could see where we needed to get,” de Rooy said. “It would normally have been a 10-minute paddle. But after 30 minutes of going hard, we moved about the length of a table.”
With light fading, it sank in that they were not going to make it to shore. About 5.45pm, they made a mayday call and set off the EPIRB, with 1-2m waves soon crashing over them.
“Our main worry was to not capsize, not because we might sink, but more the cold factor. We knew it was going to be a long night.”
Three rescue helicopters and a Coastguard vessel went to look for them. But the stormy conditions, with winds gusting to 100km/h, meant the helicopters, from Auckland, Taranaki and Waikato, had to turn back.
About 80km north, Raglan Coastguard kicked into gear. They’d been having a training night, so the team jumped into their powerboat and charged down the coast.
About two hours later, close to 8.30pm, de Rooy and Murray saw a distant “massive light” heading for them.
“We realised it was the coastguard . . . it was an incredible feeling.”
Within minutes the fishers were aboard the vessel, wrapped in blankets, being fed sweets as the crew cracked jokes. The pair were unscathed but a little cold and in a bit of shock, de Rooy said.
The coastguard had hot pizzas and soup ready on arrival and even rinsed down the kayaks and fishing gear.
“I couldn’t believe how amazing they were — I was actually getting a bit emotional. They saved our lives.”
In hindsight, they hadn’t quite estimated the difficulty of paddling with the strength of the wind combined with an outgoing tide.
“I’m just thankful we had the gear, the radios and the EPIRB, and for the Raglan Coastguard . . . every kayaker and boatie should have a membership.”
Raglan Coastguard senior skipper Kevin Dreaver said: “They were pretty happy and relieved to see us, that’s for sure.”