Diver swims for life

After six hours of swimming through choppy seas and "hundreds" of jellyfish, Ian Foden waded ashore in the light of the moon, walked to the jetty and asked if he could borrow a cellphone.
When asked why, the 59-year-old from Little Waihi looked out to sea at the Coastguard's roving light and calmly replied, "because I think those boats are looking for me".
Mr Foden became separated from his boat on Tuesday night during a diving expedition with wife Bubs. He was more than 5km from shore and, after treading water for 45 minutes, decided he would need "to sort this out" for himself and began the slow swim back to shore.
Mr Foden, who runs the Bledisloe Holiday Park with his wife, said thoughts of Rob Hewitt's survival after spending 72 hours in waters off the Kapiti Coast went through his head as he kept his eye on lights on the shore.
Police and the Coastguard have described Mr Foden as "extremely lucky" to survive.
Incredibly, when he arrived on shore around midnight, instead of taking a well-earned rest, he helped free one of the search boats that had become stuck on a dangerous sandbar.
Then he was back out in his boat - which Bubs and Coastguard helpers had brought to shore - to pick up mussels he had attached to a buoy when he realised he was in trouble.
When asked how he so easily survived a situation that could have had a tragic outcome for others, Mr Foden said: "I'm not a very good swimmer".
"Just don't panic and think about what you are doing."
A veteran diver with 35 years' experience, he swam and drifted with currents for between 5km and 7km before making it safely to the coast. He never expected anything but to survive and was prepared to spend days in the water.
"It was no bother. I just wondered if I was going to be as good as that guy Hewitt," he said.
The drama began about 6pm when Mr Foden surfaced after diving for mussels at a reef called Town Point and saw that his boat had come loose from its anchor.
His wife was aboard and spotted him, and they yelled to each other but she could not get the 4m aluminium craft to her husband before currents separated them and she lost sight of Ian in the swell - then about 1.5m.
After searching unsuccessfully, Mrs Foden raised the alarm and asked the Coastguard to help get the boat to shore. She told the Coastguard she was confident her husband of 37 years would be able to get to shore.
Around 9pm, the search began by the Maketu Volunteer Sea Rescue and two private boats, joined soon afterwards by the Tauranga Coastguard and police.
Meanwhile, relatives had heard the news and were heading to Little Waihi with their boats.
Maketu sea rescue chairman Shane Beech said Mr Foden was "extremely lucky" because conditions were getting worse and the swell increased during the three hours they were searching.
Mr Foden, meanwhile, had tied mussels and prepared to make the journey to the coast.
To conserve energy, he discarded his weight belt but kept his breathing gear and dive bottle.
His only concern was that wind would change direction, altering the currents and making it difficult to get to shore.
He was about 3km off the coast from Maketu and eventually made his way ashore at Kaituna Cut, 2km north of Maketu.
After wading ashore, Mr Foden saw that a local fisherman who had been on the search had got his boat stuck on the notorious bar.
"He was out trying to help me so the only decent thing was to try to help him," Mr Foden said.
He waded out on to the bar and pulled the boat's anchor into deeper water to drag the vessel free as the tide came up.
After a medical check-up in an ambulance, Mr Foden returned to the holiday camp where his survival was celebrated well into the night, although his 35-year-old son had given him a "rev-up".
He was proud of how his wife had handled the situation and the couple wished to thank the Coastguard and other volunteers.
Today, Mr Foden was already thinking of taking the boat back out again tomorrow.