KEY POINTS:
Cuts in his feet are all an Auckland man has to show for a late night sea adventure that could have gone horribly wrong.
The middle-aged man last night braved 45 gusting 61 knot winds to kayak into the Manukau Harbour to check his boat, moored at Little Huia.
When he reached the 18 meter runabout he discovered he couldn't get the motor to start or the anchor to hold.
With no plan B, the boatie was simply left to "drift into the blackness" Coastguard Dean Lawrence said.
After receiving a call the Coastguard dispatched a response crew but due to weather conditions Mr Lawrence said it was a challenge getting there.
Approximately 40 minutes after the man's plight was first reported, however, the Coastguard received another call saying the boatie had been found.
The caller had apparently hit the man in the water after he'd jumped overboard and started swimming to the shore. The man was unharmed.
"While the story has a positive outcome, I'm not sure it was it was the right thing to do," Mr Lawrence said.
He said the boat, which had been a "feature of the community for 40 odd years," would eventually wash ashore in pieces.
The man was allowed to return home to worried family members after it was established he didn't need medical assistance.
He told the coastguard he had been wearing a life-jacket and a wetsuit.
Mr Lawrence said the man had also kept the paddle from his kayak so, after abandoning ship he lay on his back and hoisted the paddle in the air which created a sail that pulled him ashore.
While the boatie was able to retrieve his kayak this morning there was still no sign of his 18 meter runabout.
