Boatie's big mistake

Police are asking boaties to use common sense after a man left his children in a drifting boat to try to swim ashore through cold lake waters on Sunday, even though there was a mobile phone aboard.

The group from Auckland had been in a 4.9m runabout that developed mechanical problems on Lake Rotoiti, Senior Sergeant Anna Jackson of Rotorua said yesterday.

A 32-year-old man in the boat had decided to swim to shore to get help, leaving his 15-year-old son, 12-year-old daughter, and his daughter's friend, also 12, in the drifting boat.

About 12.40pm the distressed children had called police when they became concerned about their father.

Concerned residents on the shore also called police after seeing someone in the water apparently calling for help.

The father eventually made it to shore, exhausted, about 1.15pm, while a local fisherman alerted by police had been able to get to the stranded boat and get those aboard safely to shore.

The incident could have ended differently as the water was very cold, Mrs Jackson said.

"The main criticism from the police was that the man should have stayed with the boat and used the cellphone to make contact with police."

The boat was not equipped with a marine radio or flares.