Waka paddlers rescued at The Cut

A sizeable swell and strong outgoing tide caused some grief for waka ama paddlers at The Cut yesterday morning, when seven of them tipped in the water after their craft capsized. They were taken ashore by a jet ski rider who had been with them. Picture by Liam Clayton

A group of waka ama paddlers got into difficulties at The Cut yesterday morning when their craft were capsized by swells as they attempted to get back into the Tūranganui River.

Police, St John ambulance officers, the rescue helicopter and the surf life saving emergency callout squad were all mobilised at around 9.45am that morning.

A six-person waka and a single person waka tipped over, spilling the paddlers into the water.

A witness told the Herald another six-person waka crew paddled around into the harbour to the boat ramp rather than risk the swells at the river mouth.

Kaiaponi Farms surf lifeguard Lachie Falloon was out training at the time and as he returned to the beach he could see the overturned craft, and the crews in the water.

He paddled out into The Cut and supported two of the teenage paddlers, who were near the breakwater.

“A guy on a jet ski, who had been with the waka, picked up the others and took them ashore, while I looked after the two by the breakwater.

“Then he came and got the two with me.”

Both those paddlers had been wearing lifejackets.

“I’m not sure about the others.”

Falloon said the young paddlers were checked over by ambulance staff.

“No one needed to go to hospital.

“Some of them were taken to the Waikanae surf club for showers, to warm up.”

The tide was going out strongly at the time of the emergency, he said.

“It was pumping.

“The swell would have been four t five feet in the sets, a good metre and a half.”

In coordination with Gisborne Police and the National Air Desk, the Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue helicopter was dispatched to join the search just before 10am and were in the air by 10.07am.

“But it was a relatively short search for us as information filtered through that all were accounted for,” pilot Tony Brice said.

“Because the people involved had come ashore at different places their whereabouts took a while to become clear. So, until then, it was important to act quickly, which is why we were dispatched.”

During the time they were over the ocean the crew noticed one waka had drifted some 500 metres towards shipping buoys in the bay, Mr Brice said.

The six-man waka washed ashore and the single waka was recovered by a surf club IRB.