As Cyclone Vaianu continues to approach New Zealand, people are feeling the impacts from all over the North Island.
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Authorities say they’re disappointed in the number of Hawke’s Bay thrillseekers who decided to venture near Cyclone Vaianu’s waves on Sunday.
Coastguard Hawke’s Bay and skipper Matt Harvey was alerted to a windsurfer near Westshore at about high tide at 12.45pm on Sunday.
MetService said offshore Napier waves hit anestimated 3.7m on Sunday afternoon. By midnight, they were expected to have lowered to 2m.
On the exposed eastern coast of Mahia, 6.5m swells were recorded on Sunday afternoon, but were also expected to ease, MetService said.
Harvey said callers to police and Napier City Council were worried the windsurfer was in trouble because he was repeatedly falling off his board and coming ashore only to be blown back out.
The windsurfer told Harvey he was highly experienced.
“You can be the most experienced person in the world at something, that doesn’t mean it won’t go wrong,” Harvey said.
He explained to the windsurfer that people had flooded 111 with calls and that he’d dragged his crew away from their homes to come to save him.
“It’s what we’re here for, it’s what we do, but for someone to actually go and put themselves in that position to then put our crews in those situations is just not appreciated.”
Harvey said two people were also seen on bodyboards in the Napier inner channel next to Perfume Point.
The council said people should not be surfing, swimming or fishing and they should avoid viewing waves from shorelines or exposed areas.
“These conditions can change quickly and become life-threatening without warning.”
About 25 minutes earlier, police were called to Marine Parade as onlookers jumped the fence to the closed viewing platform, with video capturing them being splashed by waves.
Police said upon arrival, they found people in the area, who were given safety advice about the warnings and advisories in place.
