The Raglan Coastguard battled rough conditions to save two kayakers lost at sea on Wednesday night. Photo / File
The Raglan Coastguard battled rough conditions to save two kayakers lost at sea on Wednesday night. Photo / File
Two Waikato fishermen are lucky to be alive after being blown nearly 8 kilometres out to sea in their kayaks, sparking a dramatic night-time rescue after a severe weather change on Wednesday.
The two men were experienced and well-prepared, with marine-grade VHF radios and an emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB)- something the Raglan Coastguard has credited with saving their lives.
Rex de Rooy, 51, and Earl Murray, 57, two Te Kuiti farmers and good mates, had been keeping a close eye on the swell and weather forecast, and Wednesday afternoon was looking ideal.
The west coast, regularly battered by swells several metres high, was dropping to just a 0.7m swell, with light offshore winds.
A severe wind change was forecast later that evening, but the duo expected to be ashore well before it arrived.
They had all the gear, including life jackets, Gore-Tex jackets, spare food, radios, an EPIRB, even a spare paddle - all for just in case things went wrong.
They paddled about a kilometre south, around a headland, and perched about 200m offshore in depths between 2 and 6 metres for the afternoon, catching their share of kaimoana.
About 3.45pm they decided to make their way back to shore.
But what had been about a 30 minute paddle there, turned out to be a much trickier return.
The wind started to pick up, swinging from an easterly to a northeasterly angle.
While they were only a few hundred metres from shore it was rocky with sheer cliff faces, and so they needed to get back to the sandy beach.
They battled away for a good hour trying to paddle directly into the wind, increasing in strength by the minute, but had barely made it to the headland.
Murray got around the point first, and was hit by a blast of wind.
Something they had not accounted for was the dropping tide, which combined with the wind and chop coming straight at them.
"We could see where we needed to get," De Rooy said.
"It would normally have been a 10 minute paddle. But after 30 minutes of going hard, we moved about the length of a table."
With light fading the gravity of their predicament sank in - they were not going to make it to shore.
At around 5.45pm, after another hard crack at making some ground - "We had to check it wasn't just a bad dream" - they made a mayday call, and set off the EPIRB soon after.
Help was on the way.
De Rooy put on his head torch, and the pair decided to hunker down and make sure they kept upright as the chop continued to build, with soon waves one to two metres in height crashing over their vessels.
Incidentally they'd been having a training night, so were rearing to go.
The team jumped straight into their powerboat, navigated the Raglan bar, and charged down the coast in search of the stricken fishermen, GPS coordinates and a drift map at hand.
About two hours later, time ticking close to 8.30pm, De Rooy and Murray saw a "massive light" in the distance, heading straight for them.
"We realised it was the coastguard, coming for us, it was an incredible feeling."
The crew arrived and with minutes the fishers were aboard the vessel, wrapped in blankets, being fed lollies as the crew cracked jokes - seemingly to calm the pair, who were unscathed, a little cold, but in a bit of shock, De Rooy said.
But it was another few hours in the boat back to Raglan, heading straight into two-metre chop, winds gusting close to 100km/h at times.
Their families had been contacted by the New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre (NZRCC), which kept them updated through the evening, and De Rooy's wife Sabina and their two young daughters had made the drive up from Te Kuiti to meet them.
"They were very relieved," De Rooy said.
The coastguard's hospitality continued on land, with hot pizzas and soup on arrival, the team even rinsing down the kayaks and fishing gear.
"I couldn't believe how amazing they were - I was actually getting a bit emotional. They saved our lives," De Rooy said.
In hindsight, they hadn't quite estimated the difficulty of paddling with the strength of the wind combined with an outgoing tide, De Rooy said.
"I'm just thankful we had the gear, the radios and the EPIRB, and for the Raglan Coastguard. I cannot believe it is a voluntary organisation, every kayaker and boatie should have a membership."
Raglan Coastguard senior skipper Kevin Dreaver said despite it being night-time, and the men being so far out to sea, it was "dead easy" to find them.
"They'd set off their EPIRB so we were getting updates on their position constantly, and the closer we got we could see the lights they had on their kayaks.
"They were pretty happy and relieved to see us, that's for sure."
Without that equipment, Dreaver said it could have been a different story.
"It was probably one of the rougher nights we've been out. There were a lot of white caps, and chop getting up to one to two metres.
"But it was their own ability that saved them. They were incredibly well prepared, had all the gear - more prepared than most boaties."
