Rescuer: He was face down... it looked like a rock

Allan Buchan says he pulled the unconscious man on to his longboard and pushed him on to Hot Water Beach. Photo / Dean Purcell

At first Allan Buchan thought what he could see in the water was a rock.

But it was a young man floating face down in the water after he was caught in a rip off Hot Water Beach, on the Coromandel Peninsula, on Monday night.

"It was strange," Mr Buchan said. "I had just got to the beach and paddled out into the surf. It was quite calm, and apparently I just paddled straight past the guy - he was two feet [60cm] in front of me and I never realised."

The 22-year-old Aucklander was waiting to catch a wave when he saw the man near some rocks.

"It looked just like a rock, he was bobbing face down and you could only see him after the waves had gone over him."

He stared at the man for about 20 seconds because he didn't want to run over the "rock" but then noticed people waving frantically on the beach.

"Luckily I had a huge, big longboard so I hauled him on to that and pushed him on to the beach. He was in chest-deep water."

The man, dressed in a heavy shirt and three-quarter pants, was unconscious and "foaming at the mouth"and was "as heavy as lead".

Mr Buchan said it was not something he had ever seen before which was probably why he initially just went straight past.

On the beach people ran to help the unconscious man while his rescuer collapsed on the beach.

"I was feeling a bit poked. But luckily there were paramedics there and I watched for about half an hour before I went surfing."

He knew the man was okay because he came round after about a minute and was "throwing his guts up" but was still breathing, unlike his friend who had also been rescued.

Mr Buchan told the Herald he was surprised the pair had got into trouble in such calm conditions.

"It was pretty mellow really. There was a bit of a current ... but I pushed him on to my board and ran him on to the beach. If the current was really strong I wouldn't have been able to do that."

The beach was quite crowded when the pair got into trouble, about 6.30pm, but there was no one else near the man at the time, Mr Buchan said.

"I was kind of surprised really. Someone saw me paddle past and it was about 20 or 30 seconds before I clicked and there was no one else rushing into the water.

"The guy who told me on the beach that I nearly paddled past him, I nearly said to him,'Wow man, you don't look very wet'."

A 15-year-old boy helped the other man to shore and both the men were airlifted to Auckland City Hospital, where they were treated and later discharged.

Mr Buchan didn't believe he was a hero though, despite Hot Water Beach residents saying the men wouldn't have survived without the intervention of him and the teenager.

"I sort of feel like if I wasn't there someone else would have been," Mr Buchan said. "I'm sure the guy would have done the same thing to me if the roles were reversed, I was just doing my citizen's duty, I suppose."

He was open to meeting the man and was relieved to hear he would fully recover but would probably "subtly hint to take some swimming lessons".