Safety-conscious fisherman helpless after freak wave

By ELIZABETH BINNING

Graham Udy was the kind of man who believed safety was everything when it came to fishing.

He bought a good sturdy boat, carried flares, a global positioning system and always wore a lifejacket - but none of that helped when he and his 29-year-old son Lance were hit by a freak wave while fishing on Friday.

The two Otorohanga men spent four hours clinging to their upturned boat before Lance was swept away and Graham drowned.

Yesterday Graham Udy's younger son Gareth said fishing was a favourite pastime for the farming family, especially for his 55-year-old father, who had only just got back out on the water after recovering from an ankle operation.

Graham and Lance were fishing at Albatross Pt, just south of Kawhia Harbour, early on Friday morning.

They went in Graham's pride and joy, a 6m Ramco boat he bought after being told it had better buoyancy than most and was nearly impossible to sink.

"They were fishing in a place where we fish quite often, and for some reason a wave broke on them, landed on the boat, flipped it and put them both in the water."

Gareth Udy said his brother and father, who were both wearing life-jackets, tried to swim to the rocks about 35m away, but the backwash kept them from getting there.

They went back to the boat and clung to it for four hours until another large wave hit. Lance was washed away and pushed towards the rocks.

Gareth said his brother grabbed some seaweed hanging from the rocky cliff-face, and waited for the next swell to push him in further. Using the waves and seaweed Lance worked his way to the rocks where he yelled for his father to stay with the boat.

"To get to Dad he had to climb a cliff and through some scrub and back down to Dad," said Gareth. "That took him about an hour by the time he had done that but [by then] the boat and Dad had gone."

Lance spent a long, cold night stranded on the rocks, wearing only a torn shirt and lifejacket. He was rescued about 6.15am on Saturday by searchers who had been looking for the pair since Friday night.

Graham Udy's body was found about 2km offshore later that morning.

He is survived by his wife, his two sons and a daughter.

Sergeant Steve Hayman said father and son were experienced fishermen and had all the necessary safety equipment on the boat.