Giant waves feared to have claimed pair of surfers

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Monstrous waves, the likes of which locals cannot ever remember, are thought to have claimed the lives of two Whakatane surfers.

Brandon Jarrett and Gregory Shaw, both 31, were still missing yesterday after extensive air and land searches at normally peaceful Omaio Bay, 56km northeast of Opotiki.

The friends, fit and experienced surfers, went out on Sunday afternoon into 2m to 3m swells. Within half an hour the waves had more than trebled in size.

Greg Sleep, who walked 20km during the morning searching for his mates, said: "These guys are extreme surfers and hardened sea men."

It was a freak episode that proved too powerful for them, he said.

Another man, who has not been named, was surfing with the pair and was tossed up on the shore.

Locals from the small settlement realised the men were in trouble and tried to get a rope out to them. But Mr Jarrett and Mr Shaw were caught amid swirling logs and debris in the pounding seas.

Their leg ropes had snapped and their surfboards were washed ashore. One huge wave swamped the pair and they were not seen again.

Whakatane surfing friends were still in shock yesterday as they scoured the debris-ridden shore assisted by Omaio residents on horseback.

With waves still over 3m, it was too dangerous to launch boats. A helicopter and a fixed-winged aircraft took part in the search on Sunday and yesterday.

Graeme O'Rourke, a surfing friend of the missing men and an engineering officer for Environment Bay of Plenty, was at the bay yesterday assisting with the search.

He said the seas were "phenomenal" on Sunday afternoon when rolling sets of waves swept 40m over the sand to the main road.

Long-time surfer Tony Ogilvy said Sunday's swell was the biggest he had seen on the East Coast in 35 years of surfing.

"It was Hawaiian sort of surf."