Kayaker rescued in cliff-face drama

St John paramedics attend to the kayaker after he was rescued yesterday. Photo / Alan Gibson

An inexperienced kayaker clung to a rock face before a specialist rescue squad could reach him after he and a friend capsized not long after setting out in heavy seas.

The 40-year-old from Tauranga and his friend fell out of their two-man kayak about 100 metres offshore between Orokawa Bay and Waihi Beach about 9am yesterday.

Senior Sergeant Rex Knight, the Hauraki Plains sub-area police manager, said the pair, who were wearing lifejackets, had gone out in seas with 3m swells and a northerly drift.

"I'm not sure why they went out there, to be honest."

Mr Knight said that when the pair got into trouble, the friend managed to swim back to shore to try to raise the alarm.

Meanwhile, two people using a nearby track saw the 40-year-old Tauranga man - who was blowing a whistle to attract attention - struggling in the water for about 30 minutes.

He managed to haul himself on to some rocks but was trapped under a 75m cliff face, where members of the Waihi Surf Life Saving Club could not safely get to.

Police eventually called the Newmont Waihi Mine Rescue team to help winch the man to safety.

The slightly embarrassed man was treated at the scene by St John Ambulance paramedics for shock, lacerations and bruising.

Sergeant Dave Litton of Waihi police said the incident highlighted the need for seafarers to consider the conditions and their ability before venturing out.

"It is this man's lucky day, given the danger involved with these rocks, the surf state and his inexperience in a kayak," he said.

"If he hadn't made it to the rocky crevice, I think we would have been picking a body up out of the water."