Rescue `rope jockey' turns out to be `little chickie'

By Peter de Graaf
It was supposed to have been a sedate day trip for mainly elderly railway buffs.
Instead it had all the thrills of a James Bond movie, with the group's catamaran tossed about in a two-metre swell and four people rushed to hospital - two off them plucked off the boat in a daring helicopter rescue.
The excitement began at 8am in Auckland when about 320 people boarded a "Wheels and Waves Excursion", organised by the Railway Enthusiasts Society. One group arrived safely by train in Whangarei about noon and boarded buses for the Bay of Islands. There they took in the Opua Regatta before catching a Fullers catamaran for a fast trip to Auckland.
Auckland contractor Colin Hughes, who was with his wife Pat and grandson Joshua, said most of his fellow passengers were aged 50 to 80 and "in for a last thrill". But they got more than they bargained for when the boat hit a two-metre swell just past the Hole in the Rock. "I'm okay in the water, but I thought, `This boat has a bit of a rock on it. This is going to cause a bit of ruction'." As they set course for the Poor Knights the swell had worsened and the cat started "porpoising up and down".
Passengers were soon clutching at seasickness bags and "a few were puking over the back".
The Poor Knights had just come into view when the captain had announced a passenger was suffering heart trouble. The cat turned around and "blasted straight for Marsden Pt", Mr Hughes said.
Off Bream Head, around 6pm, the passengers were told to leave the top deck, a helicopter came roaring in and dropped a rope to the cat, which was still bobbing up and down wildly. "Then this `rope jockey' jumped off the chopper. She was only a little lady but she was all geared up. She grabbed a big guy, strapped him on and dragged him up." Everyone on board was clapping and cheering, Mr Hughes said.
Then the woman dropped 30m from the chopper again and picked up an even bigger man. "They did a great job, just heroic, and it was so exciting. It was most definitely the highlight of the trip." Mr Hughes said the rescue brought home how vital the helicopter service was.
St John Northland operations manager Donna Austin admitted - after a little coaxing - that she was the 157cm woman who hauled two well-built, 185cm heart patients to a hovering Northland Electricity Rescue Helicopter. But she said there was nothing heroic about her actions. "It's just part of our job. We train really hard for it and we're well geared up. But I do enjoy the look on people's faces when a little chickie pops out of the chopper." The service performed only seven to 10 winch rescues a year, and only as a last resort because of the high risk. "We didn't go to be the entertainment, but we were certainly happy to save a life," Ms Austin said.
The patients' main problem was seasickness, but both had a history of heart trouble and were initially in a serious condition. The 57-year-old Aucklander and 59-year-old man from Whakatane were taken to Whangarei Hospital.
More train buffs made the reverse trip, and two also fell ill on the Auckland-to-Opua boat trip. One had had breathing difficulties, the other abdominal pains and a history of kidney stones. Both were picked up by ambulance at Opua.