His jumper became tangled in the propeller, dragging him beneath the surface. He wriggled free of the tangled clothing and came up for air, screaming at the skipper to kill the engine, before swimming to the side of the boat and being pulled back on board by his two friends.
The then Massey University of Wellington industrial design student was in shock and unaware of the extent of his injuries until he noticed the deep cut and ripped muscle tissue around his calf, hamstring and quad.
“It was pretty much meat flaps that had been torn to bits by the motor. There was lots of blood. It was pretty full on.”
His friends were medical students. They immediately applied pressure to the grisly wound with a blanket and tied a piece of rope tightly around the top of his leg.
The boat’s radio had been broken during the impact and the vessel’s distress beacon had a flat battery. But someone managed to get cellphone reception and called 111 for help.
They were drifting about 5km out to sea with land barely visible on the horizon.
“That was when the pain and a little bit of panic started to set in.
“It was just me and the two boys in a boat in the middle of the ocean with a broken motor and my leg bleeding out.
“The only way I could keep myself together was to concentrate on my breathing. I knew if I could keep my heart rate down it would give me the best chance of getting through.”
Booth closed his eyes, felt a “warm rush” and began to drift off.
“My mate started slapping my face and yelling, ‘Wake up, wake up’. I clicked that if I don’t stay awake there’s a good chance I’ll never wake up again.”
It was about 20 minutes before a nearby yacht responded to the mayday call, followed by a Mangawhai Surf Live Saving team and the Northland Rescue Helicopter.
Those on board the yacht tied the inflatable alongside and kept it steady in the choppy sea while paramedics assessed Booth’s injuries and provided pain relief.
Volunteer surf lifeguard Mike Ardern would later tell the Northern Advocate the cut was so deep it had nearly amputated Booth’s leg.
“When I saw the cut on his calf muscle I thought he’d probably need 30 or 40 stitches. But then we lifted the blanket up and it was pretty bad. He’d lost a lot of blood.”
Medical personnel applied a proper tourniquet and gave him oxygen and an IV.
Booth remembers the moment he heard the rescue chopper approaching.
“That was the point I knew I was going to make it through. In my mind I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m dying on this boat’. It was the biggest sense of relief.”
Booth was winched aboard the heicopter and flown to Whangārei Hospital where he underwent a blood transfusion. He’d lost nearly 2.5 litres of blood.
Staff then gave him a sobering report on the extent of his injuries.
“They said, ‘There’s a good chance we’ll have to amputate your leg’. That was a pretty tough pill to swallow but at the same time I was stoked that I’d made it through.”
Booth was transferred to Middlemore Hospital by ambulance the next day where he endured multiple surgeries to repair severe muscle and nerve damage.
Medical staff managed to save his leg but told him he’d been within minutes of death.
He credits his survival to the quick thinking of his mate Jamie Kennelly, the dedication of his rescuers and the skilled medical staff who worked on his injuries.
Without the efforts of the not-for-profit surf lifesaving club and rescue helicopter service, both of which rely on donations, “I wouldn’t be here”.
Booth has undergone months of intensive rehabilitation and had to relearn how to walk. He still suffers from painful pins and needles but is now able to run and play sport again.
Booth believes a kill switch on the vessel - a lanyard system that clips to the driver and automatically cuts the engine if they are thrown from the controls - could have prevented him from suffering life-threatening injuries that day.
He shared his story as a warning to other boaties heading out on the water this summer about how quickly things can go wrong.
“I’m incredibly lucky. There are all these certain pieces that fell into place to get me here.
“Given I was lucky to get out of that hectic situation, it’s the least I can do to get the message out there.
“You can’t mess around on board boats and you have to be wary of what can go wrong and how quickly it can wrong.
“You’re on the water, you’re incredibly isolated from first responders and hospitals, and if you don’t take the right precautions you can be in big trouble.”
Maritime NZ principal adviser on recreational craft Matt Wood said 22 people died in recreational boating accidents in 2021 - well up on the 10-year average of 17.
Most deaths occurred during holiday periods in summer and spring, and most were avoidable.
Wood said the message to boaties heading out these holidays was “have fun but come home safe”.
Maritime NZ asked boaties to be prepared and “know the ways of the water before they let go of the land”.
Key messages under the boating safety code include:
• Always wear lifejackets. If you don’t have enough lifejackets, don’t go out.
• Carry at least two water-proof forms of communication to call for help. Check they are working properly and know how to use them.
• Check the latest marine weather forecast. If in doubt, don’t go out.
• Avoid alcohol.
• Skipper responsibility. This includes having general safe boating knowledge but also specific knowledge about the area you are in and the type of activity you are undertaking.
Wood recommended talking to the local Coastguard and harbourmaster for guidance around safety and requirements, and downloading the Marine NZ app.
Boaties could find more information at saferboating.org.nz and Coastguard was running a lifejacket upgrade scheme, Old to New.
Deadly stats
In 2021, there were 22 deaths (spread across 18 incidents) related to recreational craft
• 20 of the 22 people were male
• The median age was 55 years old
• 11 were not wearing a lifejacket when they entered the water.
• 10 of those people had one available to them.
• 17 of the 22 people died in spring and summer.
