The boat was left to drift to shore and landed around Opoutama Beach on the Mahia Peninsula at dawn according to Mahia sole-charge officer Chad Prentice. Photo / Chad Prentice
The boat was left to drift to shore and landed around Opoutama Beach on the Mahia Peninsula at dawn according to Mahia sole-charge officer Chad Prentice. Photo / Chad Prentice
The occupants of a boat off Hawke’s Bay’s coast were flung into the air and showered by shattered glass as they came off big waves in the rough swells on Tuesday night.
Coastguard Hawke’s Bay faced low visibility in mist and swells more than 3m high as they rescued the injured people off the coast of Mahia after a mayday call.
The 40ft vessel was heading south from Auckland when its three occupants sent out a mayday call to Maritime Radio about 9pm on Tuesday, about 45km east off the coast of Napier in the Lachlan Banks area.
Coastguard Hawke’s Bay president Henry van Tuel said two of the three people on the boat were injured after it came off a big wave.
“They came off quite a big wave, some windows broke on the boat, one of the guys went up in the air, hit his head on the roof and came crashing down on to his bottom and hurt his back,“ van Tuel said.
A multi-agency response involving Maritime NZ’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ) and Coastguard began when RCCNZ received the mayday call and took on coordination of the rescue operation.
Justin Allan, Rescue Coordination Centre general manager, said Maritime Radio managed to get a mobile number for a crew member and mobile locate played a key role in getting a swift and accurate response from local Coastguard, as well as standing down vessels who weren’t in the area the vessel was in or travelling towards.
“[Mobile locate] determined the vessel was actually 10 nautical miles from Whakaki, meaning it would run aground in about two hours if it didn’t get intercepted,” Allan said.
“At the time the vessel was going at about five knots.”
With the more accurate location, it was decided Coastguard Hawke’s Bay’s Celia Knowles rescue boat was the most suitable responder and they arrived on the scene about 12.35am according to van Tuel.
“They were drifting northwards or going north towards Mahia, so we just recalibrated,” van Tuel said.
Coastguard Hawke’s Bay faced low visibility and rough swells as they rescued the injured occupants of a boat off the coast of Mahia following a freak accident. Photo / Coastguard Hawke’s Bay
“We got close to Mahia and couldn’t locate them, it was very low mist.”
He said there was a 2.5m swell that steepened to more than 3m when they got close to Mahia, along with wind speeds reaching 20-30 knots (37-55km/h).
They were able to locate the boat with the help of a flare.
However, it was far too rough for the Coastguard to recover them at first when they found the boat near the Mahia beach area.
Coastguard Hawke's Bay's Celia Knowles rescue boat helped a boat in distress with two injured occupants off the coast of Napier on Tuesday night. Photo / Coastguard NZ
“We led them in and said ‘can you anchor here?’, and they made an attempt to anchor and the anchor wouldn’t drop,” van Tuel said.
“The guy went on the bow and tried to free the anchor, but it just wouldn’t go down.”
The three people were eventually transferred safely onto the Coastguard boat and given a medical check-up, but it was too dangerous to tow the boat so it was left to drift to shore.
A helicopter couldn’t get out to them, so they travelled back to Napier where they met with an ambulance about 5.30am.
The boat itself was left to drift to shore and landed around Opoutama Beach on the Mahia Peninsula at dawn according to Mahia sole-charge officer Chad Prentice.
Prentice said there was a bit of debris around the vessel, including diesel containers and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council were dealing with the environmental clean-up.
The occupants were treated by ambulance upon arrival at the shore, but van Tuel said none required hospital care.
A Harbour Master’s Office spokesperson said the boat had since been moved up to the high-tide mark. “The owner is planning to remove the boat over the weekend,” the spokesperson said. “The public are warned not to climb on the boat in the meantime as the vessel has considerable damage and the wreck is not safe to enter.”
Regional council’s team leader pollution control and enforcement, Mike Signal, said the fuel tanks had since been pumped out, and there was some “minor spillage” of diesel and oil from the bilge water, not the fuel tanks.
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz
