Chilly bin survivor - 'scariest night of my life'

The men were wearing life-jackets and used their chilly bin to help swim to shore.

One of the two men who used a chilly bin full of fish to help swim has described the ordeal as the 'scariest night of my life bro'.

Jason Yorke and Lydon Enright had been fishing off the coast from Papamoa when their dinghy was swamped by a wave and sank about 8.30pm.

Tauranga police applauded the men's common sense. The 39-year-olds from Mount Maunganui and Tauranga had been wearing life jackets.

The men lost everything except for a chilly bin full of fish, which was floating as the boat capsized. They used the chilly bin to swim three hours to shore.

''It was a little bit surreal. It hasn't hit home that it actually happened last night,'' Mr Yorke said.

Mr Yorke said the ordeal was the 'scariest night of his life bro' and he could hardly move now as he had never swum for three hours before.

Mr Yorke told the Bay of Plenty Times he and Mr Enright kept thinking of their wives and babies as they continued to swim to shore.

Both men have five-month-old babies, born a week a part.

''When we finally got to shore we just, our legs were just jelly. We couldn't stand for two to three minutes,'' he said.

''It was just an amazing experience.''

Read tomorrow's Bay of Plenty Times for the full story.

Senior Sergeant Glenn Saunders said the man's survival was the best outcome of a bad situation.

"The wearing of life jackets by these two men certainly avoided a tragedy vindicating the safe boating message of wearing life jackets at all times."

Sea conditions at the time were slight to moderate, police said.

Although cold after their time in the water, neither man required medical attention and they were both looking forward to a hot shower.