Bobbing log saves man in chilly seas
Remopita Pongi owes his life to a bobbing piece of driftwood after his Google Maps shortcut home almost ended with him lost at sea. Pongi, 29, had been on¯an 80kmplus trek home from Opo¯tiki to Kawerau on Saturday morning when a look at his phone suggested he could cut across a tidal estuary opening on to the Bay of Plenty.
But once he was in the water, a rip pushed him 2.5km out to sea.
Had it not been for a chance encounter with a floating log, Pongi would have been “screwed” and “all out at sea”, he said yesterday.
“I was just paddling along, and the waves were getting a bit carried away and I happened upon a piece of wood,” he told the Herald. “I just grabbed on to that and floated.”
The log helped him stay afloat for three hours, before he pulled his soaked but waterproof cellphone from his pocket and called for help.
Pongi was eventually plucked from the water by a jetski rider and surf lifeguards in what proved a most unusual tale from start to finish.
His troubles had started the night before when an argument with his brother stranded him near O¯po¯tiki.
Having nothing but the clothes he wore, he spent the night on the beach, lighting a fire to keep warm.
With no food, he noticed birds
pecking over a snapper head and rushed in to cook it up. “I ate what I could and the rest burned.
“The sand wasn’t warm, and the beach fire could only warm me up so much — it wasn’t a lovely night.”
The next morning he faced an 80km walk along the road to get to his mum’s house at Kawerau.
A look at Google Maps suggested 25km could be slashed from the journey if he walked along the coast
from¯O¯ and swam hiwa Beach across the estuary to Ohope.
But the riptide was too strong. As the coast drifted further away, the ocean grew colder and he said “quite a few prayers”.
“I tried to remain composed because I know panic is no good in those life-threatening situations,” he said.
Pongi planned to wait for the tide to turn and push him back to shore.
But a couple of hours in and he was shivering. “I thought f*** that, I’ve got to get a little bit of help here, any longer in the water and I would have started seizing up.”
He reached for his trusty iPhone X in his pocket and dialled 111. “I just pulled it out and it was still working.”
Police put the Whakata¯ne Surf Lifesaving Club in touch with Pongi and he directed them to his position.
But as he was waiting, a jetski rider playing around in the ocean chanced upon him. “He saw my head bobbing up and down in the water and went along to investigate and found me.”
The jetski took Pongi to a rescue boat, which carried him to the Whakatane Surf Lifesaving clubhouse where he jumped into a hot shower.
“He was conversational and we weren’t too alarmed,” club spokesman Craig Julian said. “[But] after that he didn’t look too good so we called an ambulance.”
St John said paramedics took Pongi to Whakata¯ ne Hospital to warm up because while his vital signs were okay, he had turned “blueish”.
Pongi said he was “very grateful” to his rescuers after his epic day out.
I tried to remain composed because I know panic is no good in those life-threatening
situations.
Remopita Pongi, sea survivor