No harm came to the two men who found themselves drifting out of Houhora Harbour in a ten-foot aluminium dinghy on Tuesday, but the local policeman suggested they might have known better than to land themselves in that predicament in the first place.
The pair, described only as regular holiday-makersin the Houhora area, in their late 20s with a wealth of commercial fishing experience between them, had been fishing near the harbour mouth, Senior Constable Chris Yarnton said, in a very small boat with an inadequate (two horsepower) outboard motor.
They did not have life jackets and their only means of communication was a cell phone, which fortunately did the job when it was needed in an area where signals were not always easily found.
"Basically what happened is they pulled the anchor up, got the motor going and ran out of fuel," Senior Constable Yarnton said.
The current carried them out into the bay, and fortunately they were able to find the bottom with the anchor off East Beach. If it hadn't held they would have been blown further out."
The charter boat Te Wairoa went to the rescue, towing the dinghy back into the harbour where Highway Patrol officer Darren Critchley took over with his boat Orange Roughy, and the fishermen were duly returned to terra firma.
"I asked them if they would like their photo taken but they weren't keen," Senior Constable Yarnton added.
"They didn't catch any fish either. I suppose they were going to stop at New World on the way home."
