Chilled boatie, 72, hauled from sea

Whangarei Harbour

A boatie who ended up in Whangarei Harbour was treated for hypothermia but was fortunately wearing a lifejacket, police say.

The 72-year-old was getting into a dinghy after maintenance work on his yacht moored at Parua Bay when he ended up in the chilly incoming tide about 11.50am yesterday.

A Solomon's Point resident noticed the man splashing in the water about 200 metres offshore, calling for help, and raised the alarm. The boatie had managed to cling on to another vessel's mooring rope.

Whangarei Sergeant Tai Patrick said the resident rowed out in a dinghy but could not haul the man out so towed him to shore.

The elderly man was taken to a nearby house, stripped of his wet clothes and wrapped in warm blankets. St John ambulance was called and the man was treated for mild hypothermia, then taken to Whangarei Hospital as a precaution.

Mr Patrick said the man was known to use a lifejacket and had again been wearing the appropriate gear when on the water.

"If it wasn't for the lifejacket and him being spotted quickly, things could have been much different. There was a 30-to-40-knot easterly cold wind out there."

Late last month five people in a 3.6-metre dinghy with only three lifejackets between them had to be rescued in darkness from Whangarei Harbour after their boat engine failed, with two at risk of hypothermia as temperatures plummeted.

The evening of fishing could have ended in disaster for the three men and two women, who sparked a major search and rescue call-out in Whangarei after the engine of their dinghy failed and they were drifting towards rocks .

The group left Urquharts Bay and were fishing around the channel between the gun emplacement and Busby Head. All five managed to walk back to the end of the road at Urquharts Bay, where they were checked by ambulance staff.