Police launch Deodar tow a launch with a fisherman and his daughter to safety after being lost at sea for two days in the Haurakai Gulf. Photo / Police
Police launch Deodar tow a launch with a fisherman and his daughter to safety after being lost at sea for two days in the Haurakai Gulf. Photo / Police
A father and daughter on a missing boat have been found safe and well after spending nearly two days in rough seas and are under tow to the safety of Waiheke Island.
Senior Constable John Burridge said the pair were spotted by the Police Eagle helicopter at 9.38am, 3.3 nauticalmiles north of Waiheke Island.
The police boat Deodar reached the stricken launch at 10.12am.
Police said "it appears the boat had broken down and become adrift in heavy seas".
Great Barrier Local Board chairwoman Izzy Fordham said it was her understanding the missing man was a local, Michael Graham.
His cousin, Tai Graham, and other sources said Graham and his 17-year-old daughter were the missing pair.
Police launch Deodar at Matiatia on Waiheke after towing a fisherman and his boat back to safety after two days lost at sea. Photo / Chris Rudd
Burridge said the pair were not injured, but were shattered and had a bit of sea sickness after a difficult night when their 8m white wooden launch lost both anchors and nearly capsized.
He said a big swell, lumpy seas and a north-east wind meant it was not possible to get the pair aboard the Deodar, but they had thrown them bottled water for hydration.
They are expected to arrive at Matiatia about noon where they will receive hot drinks and an ambulance if they want one.
"This is a good result. We don't always end up with such a good result," Burridge said.
The father, aged 42, from Great Barrier Island, and his 17-year-old daughter had failed to return from a fishing contest on Friday.
Senior Constable Peter Comer had earlier this morning said he remained hopeful that the pair were safe and well, saying they could have sheltered up in a bay somewhere.
The boat, an 8m-long older style white timber launch with a blue canopy, was reported missing from Tryphena on Saturday morning.
A staff member at the Currach Irish Pub, Moira, was elated they had been found.
"Oh my God, that's wonderful," she said, before hanging up to go and tell people the news.
Great Barrier Island locals had been "gutted" the pair were missing.
Earlier a staff member at the pub said "we're an island community, we're all part of a big family here.
Sue Daly, a member of the Great Barrier Local Board, said the news was "ecstatic, absolutely ecstatic".
"The alternative was going to be a horrendous thing for most of the community.
"When you come from an island, it is unlike any suburb. All of us know several hundred people. There is a network of care. Island life is like that," Daly said.
He said it was a "nasty day to be out on a boat" yesterday.
Fordham said everyone had been very concerned.
She said the man was a "great guy" and like most people on the island, a keen fisherman.
There were lots of little bays and nooks and crannies on the west side of the island where the missing boat could find refuge and which the skipper was familiar with, Fordham said.
Senior Constable Kevin Stone with the Auckland Police Maritime Unit said the pair were not technically missing as of Saturday evening, only overdue.
"They're not technically in distress, they're just reported as overdue . . . they haven't put any distress or emergency callout on the vessel themselves.
Police launch Deodar tow a launch with a fisherman and his daughter to safety after being lost at sea for two days in the Haurakai Gulf. Photo / Police
"The guy, as I understand it, he's a pretty good mariner, he knows the area pretty well."
Stone said it was possible the pair had got their dates mixed up and not realised when they were due back for the end of the competition.
"We're just kind of waiting to see if they show up during the weigh-in period."
The unit went out to search for them in the afternoon, but it was like searching for a needle in a haystack, he said.
Great Barrier resident Jeff Cleave said the weather conditions on Friday were terrible.
"It was very hard-blowing from the north, northeast. It was that bad it blew off a section of our roof. The wind was way up," he said.
On Friday, Cleave said, his brother came over from Auckland for a visit with a couple of mates by boat in big seas and he was seasick.
Great Barrier Island is 100km northeast of Auckland. At the 2013 Census it had a population of 939.
A police spokeswoman on Saturday said the boat left Tryphena after a fishing competition on Friday and failed to make contact with friends or family who were expecting a call at 5pm.
