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Clinging to a tree root on a cliff 70m above the sea, a Whakatane rescuer ignored the danger to concentrate on calming a stranded American tourist.
"I'm not nervous of heights," Whakatane Harbour superintendent Peter Cavanagh said yesterday. "I was comfortable and I could see I needed to stay calm for his sake."
Mr Cavanagh climbed the Kohi Point cliff on Tuesday night after Michael Brennan failed to return from a walk. "I pushed myself to as far as I felt was safe," he said. "I didn't want two tragedies."
Mr Cavanagh began searching rocks below after Mr Brennan's partner reported him missing at 5pm. He called out the tourist's name and, within minutes, heard a response from above. He began climbing and found Mr Brennan clinging to a small pohutukawa tree in a "very precarious place".
Mr Cavanagh got within a few metres of Mr Brennan, who had been stranded for two hours and was panicking.
"He wanted to come down to me, but I said no because I couldn't have stopped him. He was a well-built man and we would not have survived the fall."
Instead, Mr Cavanagh used his cellphone to call for a rescue helicopter.
Mr Brennan, thought to be in his late 40s or early 50s, had climbed the cliff to escape the rising tide.
Two coastguard boats were launched during the search, and the BayTrust Rescue Helicopter flew three members of the Rotorua police search and rescue squad to the point, arriving at 6.45pm. They winched Mr Brennan off the cliff and carried him to the coastguard building.
Mr Cavanagh made his own way down.
