Mr Watts said he and other Waihi volunteers gathered and assessed the bar conditions before deciding they could go out in a rescue vessel.
"The conditions were not nice," Mr Watts said.
"The swell on the bar was somewhere between 2 to 3m with some breaking waves and the conditions didn't improve on the other side."
Mr Watts said usually once a boat made it through the bar, conditions became calmer out at sea but yesterday morning they were just as bad.
"We made a decision to go based on our own bar assessment and our charter is 'saving lives at sea'.
"Most boaties wouldn't go out in those conditions," he said.
Mr Watts and his crew found the men and shadowed them until a larger boat from Tauranga arrived. The men then tailed the Tauranga Coastguard back to the Port of Tauranga.
"I don't believed they made a wise decision," Mr Watts said. "They were fortunate that the outcome was so good."
It was not known why the men headed out in such treacherous conditions, or at that time of the morning.
Police said the men arrived exhausted but safe in their boat at the Omokoroa boat ramp later in the morning.
A police spokeswoman said it appeared the men "just got into trouble with their boat".
The Waihi volunteers made it back home at about 5.30am.
Stormy weather prompted a MetService marine warning for most of the week.
Conditions were expected to have eased by early yesterday but the heavy rain warning which was still in place for the Bay of Plenty was expected to bring with it localised thunderstorms, MetService meteorologist Lisa Murray said.
Very strong gusts of wind were often associated with thunderstorms and could easily have contributed to the rough conditions at the bar, she said.
SHOULD YOU CROSS THE BOWENTOWN BAR?
For more information contact the Waihi Beach Coastguard on VHF channel 16 or 85, or phone 07 863 4477.