West Coast rescue leaves police fuming

One man had to be rescued after his Thundercat - like the one pictured - was overcome by heavy seas off the West Coast. Photo / file

Police are fuming after a man who ignored basic boat safety rules had to be rescued from a remote West Coast beach in heavy seas and foul weather.

West Coast search and rescue co-ordinator Sergeant Sean Judd said the 52-year-old was "absolutely lucky" to be alive after he became stranded on a remote beach south of Haast yesterday without a radio or life jacket.

The man and his 42-year-old companion had been possuming at Big Bay, south of Haast, when they decided to return to Jackson Bay in heavy seas.

The men set off in the larger of their two small boats, with a twin-hulled inflatable Thundercat boat being towed behind.

Mr Judd told APNZ the large swells made towing difficult and the 52-year-old man hopped into the Thundercat to cut it loose.

"You've now got one man in each boat trying to make their way back in heavy seas - that is when the two became separated," he said.

"The smaller Thundercat obviously was getting pounded by the heavy seas and had to pull into the coast for shelter, and he basically beached himself on a remote piece of coast there."

The younger man lost sight of the Thundercat and landed on the coast to contact maritime radio about 3.30pm. He then continued on to Jackson Bay, where he gave details to police and Solid Energy rescue helicopter staff.

A helicopter search team found the stranded man about 4.30pm and rescuers took him back to Jackson Bay.

Mr Judd said the rescued man was alright but was "just downplaying the whole incident"

"It's a good result and we're very happy that we're not dealing with a fatality, but we are very unhappy - very unhappy with what occurred here.

"There's five basic rules of boating and as far as I can tell they've managed to ignore at least four of them."

The 52-year-old had no life jacket and no radio, and both men had "pretty much ignored the weather forecast".

"There were serious sea conditions down there, of which boats of those types had no right to be there. It's absolutely lucky that this isn't a double fatality."

The conditions were also dangerous for rescue staff, who were flying over water in a remote area in high winds.

"This was all for something which was totally avoidable - like I say, following the basic rules."

Mr Judd said the men should have known better and police would have a word with them to make sure a similar incident did not happen again.