Sea rescue: Kayakers drift 8km off North Island's west coast sparking dramatic night-time rescue

The Raglan Coastguard battled rough conditions to save two kayakers lost at sea on Wednesday night. Photo / File

Two Waikato fishermen are lucky to be alive after being blown nearly 8 kilometres out to sea in their kayaks, sparking a dramatic night-time rescue after a severe weather change on Wednesday.

The two men were experienced and well-prepared, with marine-grade VHF radios and an emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) - something the Raglan Coastguard has credited with saving their lives.

Rex de Rooy, 51, and Earl Murray, 57, two Te Kuiti farmers and good mates, had been keeping a close eye on the swell and weather forecast, and Wednesday afternoon was looking ideal.

The west coast, regularly battered by swells several metres high, was dropping to just a 0.7m swell, with light offshore winds.

A severe wind change was forecast later that evening, but the duo expected to be ashore well before it arrived.

As they set off from Kiritehere Beach at about 1pm, the fishing conditions were the best they'd ever been out in.

Both keen watermen, they'd each grown up fishing and diving, and were very comfortable in the water.

Earl Murray earlier on Wednesday, when the conditions were the "best we've been out in". Photo / Rex de Rooy

About a year ago they decided to give sea kayaking a go, and had paddled and fished in the area many times since.

They had all the gear, including life jackets, Gore-Tex jackets, spare food, radios, an EPIRB, even a spare paddle - all for just in case things went wrong.

They paddled about a kilometre south, around a headland, and perched about 200m offshore in depths between 2 and 6 metres for the afternoon, catching their share of kaimoana.

About 3.45pm they decided to make their way back to shore.

But what had been about a 30 minute paddle there, turned out to be a much trickier return.

The wind started to pick up, swinging from an easterly to a northeasterly angle.

While they were only a few hundred metres from shore it was rocky with sheer cliff faces, and so they needed to get back to the sandy beach.

They battled away for a good hour trying to paddle directly into the wind, increasing in strength by the minute, but had barely made it to the headland.

Murray got around the point first, and was hit by a blast of wind.

Something they had not accounted for was the dropping tide, which combined with the wind and chop coming straight at them.

"We could see where we needed to get," De Rooy said.

"It would normally have been a 10 minute paddle. But after 30 minutes of going hard, we moved about the length of a table."

With light fading the gravity of their predicament sank in - they were not going to make it to shore.

At around 5.45pm, after another hard crack at making some ground - "We had to check it wasn't just a bad dream" - they made a mayday call, and set off the EPIRB soon after.

Help was on the way.

De Rooy put on his head torch, and the pair decided to hunker down and make sure they kept upright as the chop continued to build, with soon waves one to two metres in height crashing over their vessels.

Three rescue helicopters and a Coastguard vessel were immediately called to find the stricken duo.

Earl Murray earlier on Wednesday afternoon, before the winds picked up. Photo / Rex de Rooy

But the stormy conditions, with winds gusting to 100km/h, meant the helicopters, from Auckland, Taranaki and Waikato, were forced to turn back.

Other search aircraft were grounded because of the weather.

De Rooy and Murray were unaware of this, as their radio kept losing signal.

Each time a plane went overhead, they thought it was help on the way.

"There were definitely moments we wondered if anyone was coming."

Fortunately, their EPIRB continued transmitting.

Murray was a "calm and common sense kind of bloke", De Rooy said, and having spent a lot of their lives in the water, they never panicked.

This was even in the knowledge several great white sharks were known to roam the area.

"We know they're around as there are quite a few seals about, but with diving up and the down the coast we were not too worried.

"Our main worry was to not capsize, not because we might sink, but more the cold factor. We knew it was going to be a long night."

While they were listening for an air rescue, unbeknown to them, about 80km north the Raglan Coastguard was kicking into gear.

Incidentally they'd been having a training night, so were rearing to go.

The team jumped straight into their powerboat, navigated the Raglan bar, and charged down the coast in search of the stricken fishermen, GPS coordinates and a drift map at hand.

About two hours later, time ticking close to 8.30pm, De Rooy and Murray saw a "massive light" in the distance, heading straight for them.

"We realised it was the coastguard, coming for us, it was an incredible feeling."

The crew arrived and with minutes the fishers were aboard the vessel, wrapped in blankets, being fed lollies as the crew cracked jokes - seemingly to calm the pair, who were unscathed, a little cold, but in a bit of shock, De Rooy said.

But it was another few hours in the boat back to Raglan, heading straight into two-metre chop, winds gusting close to 100km/h at times.

Their families had been contacted by the New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre (NZRCC), which kept them updated through the evening, and De Rooy's wife Sabina and their two young daughters had made the drive up from Te Kuiti to meet them.

"They were very relieved," De Rooy said.

The coastguard's hospitality continued on land, with hot pizzas and soup on arrival, the team even rinsing down the kayaks and fishing gear.

"I couldn't believe how amazing they were - I was actually getting a bit emotional. They saved our lives," De Rooy said.

In hindsight, they hadn't quite estimated the difficulty of paddling with the strength of the wind combined with an outgoing tide, De Rooy said.

"I'm just thankful we had the gear, the radios and the EPIRB, and for the Raglan Coastguard. I cannot believe it is a voluntary organisation, every kayaker and boatie should have a membership."

Raglan Coastguard senior skipper Kevin Dreaver said despite it being night-time, and the men being so far out to sea, it was "dead easy" to find them.

"They'd set off their EPIRB so we were getting updates on their position constantly, and the closer we got we could see the lights they had on their kayaks.

"They were pretty happy and relieved to see us, that's for sure."

Without that equipment, Dreaver said it could have been a different story.

"It was probably one of the rougher nights we've been out. There were a lot of white caps, and chop getting up to one to two metres.

"But it was their own ability that saved them. They were incredibly well prepared, had all the gear - more prepared than most boaties."

NZRCC spokesman Vince Cholewa said the fact they had a VHF radio and a distress beacon likely saved their lives.

"You could barely have a better example of why that's so important. They may well have died."