Rider rescued as tide sweeps in

Rescuers fought failing light and an incoming tide while a seriously injured motorcyclist lay in agony on a remote and icy Wairarapa beach on Saturday.
Self-employed Korokoro plumber Simon Walker, 46, was motorcycling along the beach with a group of riders when he struck a rock near Uriti Point just before 4pm on Saturday, fellow rider Graham Taylor said last night.
Mr Walker somersaulted 30m through the air on to stones and wet sand about 8km from the Riversdale Beach resort and broke his pelvis, femur and collarbone in the fall, Mr Taylor said.
There were nine riders on the recreational jaunt, he said, who "really had to scramble" against time, tide and wind-driven sleet in aid of their friend.
"He was lying in wet sand just above the low-tide line but wouldn't let us move him. He was screaming out in pain.
"We realised we had only so much light left and only so much time before the tide came in and gobbled him up."
Mr Taylor rode further up the beach to get cellphone reception and other riders returned to Riversdale for blankets and to wait at the end of Homewood Road for the ambulance, he said.
"By the time the Masterton paramedics arrived it was getting on dark and there was a nasty onshore wind and a southeasterly swell crashing in, so it was touch and go for the air crew as well.
"When the pilot said they had to go that's just what they did there was no time for drips or anything and they were gone.
"It was almost dusk when they pulled off. We turned around and it was dark."
Shaun Camp, Wairarapa Ambulance Service operations manager, said the Masterton emergency crew arrived about 4.45pm and riders from the group ferried him and other paramedics across farmland to reach Mr Walker.
He commended the "community spirit" of the band of riders and said the group performed very well in the circumstances.
Mr Camp said that soon after 5pm the Westpac Rescue Helicopter airlifted Mr Walker directly from the beach to Wellington Hospital with serious injuries and hypothermia.
Philip Maxey, another rider in the group, said Mr Walker had been ahead of the group of riders and was travelling up to 80km/h when he struck the exposed rock.
His friend had celebrated his 46th birthday on Friday and his Suzuki DR400 motorcycle was new, Mr Maxey said.
"At least he wasn't out there alone. He was freezing to touch within half an hour of coming off the bike and he would have been dead from the cold or tide if nobody else was around."
Ian Ratter, who was with his wife Glenda, said the couple were also riding and that the tide was within about 5m of Mr Walker when the helicopter left the beach.
He said the group were all wearing safety and wet weather gear and had also carried a tarpaulin and a large board to the crash site in case the incoming tide reached Mr Walker before the emergency crews.
Both he and his wife were t attend a "broadcast" party at the Riversdale Beach Golf Clubo last night to celebrate another community effort on behalf of one of their own the three days it took to revamp the beach home of fellow resident Murray "Brownie" Brown for the Mucking In television show.
Mr Walker was last night in traction, facing the possibility of surgery today, Mr Taylor said.
His recovery in hospital is expected to take at least two months, he said.