Dramatic rescue: Boaties left clinging to debris off Cape Kidnappers coast

A sea rescue simulation by the Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter and Coastguard Hawke's Bay. Photo / File

Three people left clinging to the debris of a boat off the coast of Cape Kidnappers were rescued by emergency services at the weekend.

Senior Sergeant Kevin Stewart, of the Eastern District Command Centre, said police were notified just after 5pm on Saturday that three people were hanging on to what was left of a boat half a kilometre west of Black Reef.

It was reported the boat had been smashed up and the three were hanging on to the debris in what were reasonably choppy waters, he said.

All three were wearing lifejackets, and emergency services were alerted to the incident after several distress calls were made from the boat.

Coastguard Hawke's Bay rescue vessel skipper Henry Van Tuel said they were alerted by police at 5.18pm.

"By 5:38 we had six crew on board and were heading out the channel. We also had a radio and incident management team organised.

"Unfortunately we were heading straight into a 20 knot gusting 30 knot southerly which had kicked up a 1.5m swell which slowed our progress."

Police had alerted the Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter and Maritime Radio had put out mayday calls via a radio channel.

Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter general manager Ian Wilmot said the service was called to attend the incident at 5.30pm.

"That boat had overturned and three passengers on board were all clinging to debris," he said.

Mr Wilmot said the chopper winched a man in his 50s from the water while a commercial fishing boat picked the remaining two out of the water.

Mr Van Tuel said the mayday calls put out over the radio channel were answered by a local fishing boat, Lady Ruth, which was much closer to the scene than the coastguard and rescued two boat passengers.

It was a great night's work by the Hawke's Bay Community and emergency services, which showed that marine rescue was very much a team effort, he said.

A St John Ambulance spokesperson said they had a vehicle on standby after receiving a call at 5.23pm but didn't assess or treat any of the boaties.

The passenger winched up by the helicopter was in a moderate condition and taken straight to Hawke's Bay Hospital while the other two boaties left the scene in private vehicles, they said.