The boaties at the centre of one of the toughest rescues ever carried out by the Northland Rescue Helicopter have thanked the chopper crew who put their lives on the line after a medical emergency at sea.
Last Friday the 18m Australian-registered PatriotX was en route to Fiji from Ōpua when crewman James Luddington fell seriously ill.
Fortunately, owner and skipper Phil Dent had prepared for ocean voyages with a serious medical kit plus a Starlink satellite internet receiver.
With surgeon Jason Chan, chief medical officer for the Melbourne Storm, providing instructions via the video app Facetime, Dent was able to carry out an emergency surgical procedure on the ailing Luddington.
The procedure was a success, despite Dent’s previous lack of surgical experience, but Maritime New Zealand decided his crewmate needed to get to hospital as soon as possible.
The Northland Rescue Helicopter was dispatched from Whangārei with a crew of four, refuelled at Kerikeri, then located PatriotX about 240km offshore.
That placed the vessel near the limit of even the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter’s range so the crew had only minutes to drop a paramedic on board, strap Luddington into a harness, and winch both men back into the chopper.
Dent, who returned to Ōpua after the rescue, travelled to the Northland Rescue Helicopter base in Whangārei on Thursday to thank the chopper crew for their “mindblowing” skill and professionalism.
“I wanted to congratulate them face-to-face and thank them for what they’d done for us, and in particular for James. They’re good fellas and it was good to have a chat with them and talk about lessons learnt.”
Luddington is now recovering at home on Flinders Island, off Tasmania, but thanks to the video app Facetime he was also able to thank the Northland Rescue Helicopter crew for “almost certainly” saving his life.
He was also grateful to his crewmates on PatriotX, Dr Chan in Melbourne, New Zealand’s Search and Rescue authorities, and the staff at Whangārei Hospital for helping him get home quickly.
“It was a wonderful effort by all,” he said.
The PatriotX crew also made a “substantial” donation to the helicopter trust.
For boaties contemplating an ocean voyage the lesson was to be prepared for anything, Dent said.
“Don’t even think about going out there unless you’ve prepared for every possible event. You’ve got to have the right equipment on board, the training, and the communications. If you haven’t done your part, it’s not fair to expect these guys to put their lives at risk to come out and rescue you.”
Paul Davis, the hoist operator and critical care paramedic that night, rated it among the top-three most challenging rescues of his career.
That was because of the range, which put a tight limit on how long the helicopter could stay on scene; the sea conditions, which were worse than forecast; the vessel’s movement; and limited night-time visibility.
