A Castlepoint fisherman has bailed out two men stranded at sea.
Dean Hatchard, owner of the crayboat Ventura, was called by the occupants of the Positive II seeking help after the boat, which was headed from Picton to Napier, ran out of fuel on Monday morning.
Mr Hatchard got a phone call at about 8am, after the boat, a 40ft cougar catamaran, ran into trouble 14.5km off Akitio.
The pair on board had contacted several other fishermen, but Mr Hatchard was the only one in the area available to come to their aid.
Mr Hatchard, although keen to get out and check his craypots, said "something had to be done", and so made the trip to help out, towing the stranded boat closer to Akitio.