Drifting kayak maroons man on boat, sparks rescue operation

Hokianga Coastguard was called out but a pair of boaties reached the stranded man first. Photo / Fle

A Northland man sparked a rescue operation involving Coastguard, police and boaties after accidentally getting himself stranded on a yacht in the Hokianga Harbour.

It is understood the man was keen to buy a boat anchored not far from Kohukohu, on the north side of the harbour, so he paddled out in a kayak to check it out.

However, while he was on board his kayak drifted away, leaving him marooned on the yacht.

His cries for help and frantic waving were eventually noticed by people on shore who raised the alarm.

The nature of the emergency was not immediately clear so Whangārei-based police Search and Rescue was alerted, as was Hokianga Coastguard, which is based across the harbour at Rawene.

While a number of private boats were closer to Kohukohu it was decided to send Coastguard so no one else would be put in the position of having to break Covid isolation rules.

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In the meantime, however, two people on another boat spotted the man's distress.

They rescued him and dropped him off at Kohukohu wharf where a police officer was waiting to deliver a telling off for breaching Covid regulations.

Search and Rescue incident controller Ryan Cooper, of Whangārei police, said it appeared the man hadn't tied up his kayak properly when he went on board the yacht.

It was a reminder that under alert level 4 people were supposed to avoid water recreation because of the risk to emergency services who had to break isolation if a rescue was needed.