Matekino Lucy Burling, 60, known as Lou, from Owaka. Photo / Otago Daily Times
Matekino Lucy Burling, 60, known as Lou, from Owaka. Photo / Otago Daily Times
Two friends missing at sea off the Catlins coast were experienced sea-goers, loved in their community, with one a land search and rescue member.
Whetuki Sam Kopua, 77, known as Sam, and Matekino Lucy Burling, 60, known as Lou, from Owaka, were reported missing by about 6pm on Wednesday after they failed to return from a fishing trip.
The small Catlins community was "a bit raw" as the search continued yesterday, incident controller Senior Constable Murray Hewitson, of Owaka, said.
Mr Kopua's overturned 5.2m Kiwi-Kraft boat, Kristala, was spotted by searchers in a fixed-wing plane about 10am yesterday, southeast of Nugget Point, but the pair were not inside.
The search by four or five boats and eight land search and rescue teams was to resume at 6.30am today.
The friends were always safe fishers and Mr Kopua had a "phenomenal" knowledge of the Catlins coastline, Mr Hewitson said.
"If I said they were the two people that went out to sea most in this town, I wouldn't be far off," he said. "They'd be - easily - the two people that go fishing the most."
Yesterday's fruitless search was more emotionally difficult than usual for those involved, Mr Hewitson said, as Mrs Burling was a Catlins land search and rescue member.
Mr Kopua, retired, was married to a long-serving member of St John Ambulance, and had a long history of being involved in the community.
"It wasn't hard to find volunteers."
A helicopter with a spotlight searched for the pair from 8.30pm to 10.30pm on Wednesday, but was hampered by fog and limited visibility.
When the boat was discovered yesterday, searchers' hopes hit a high, but those were dashed when no trace was found of the missing pair, Mr Hewitson said from the Catlins land search and rescue base in Owaka.
Mr Kopua and Mrs Burling launched the boat from Newhaven, near Surat Bay, at 8.30am on Wednesday and were spotted, from the shore about 9am, heading south, Mr Hewitson said.
Mr Kopua's wife rang a friend at Surat Bay when he had not returned home by 6pm on Wednesday. His vehicle and trailer were still at the launch site.
Police, the New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre and marine search and rescue had six boats, a fixed wing aeroplane, and a helicopter were involved in the search from daybreak yesterday.
A jet ski searched the sandbar at the entrance to Surat Bay.
The pair was believed to have been headed to one of their two favourite fishing spots, Mr Hewitson said.
Search and rescue crews worked through Wednesday night, until 4am yesterday, planning the search. While there were several possible theories as to what had happened, search teams had "nothing solid" to go on, Mr Hewitson said.
Wednesday's conditions were "comfortable", with a 1m-2m swell, Mr Hewitson said.
No "flotsam" had been found yesterday and neither had the pair's lifejackets.
People could be expected to survive "an hour" in the cold waters off the Catlins coast, but searchers remained hopeful, he said.
"Always, you always have that hope."
The area from Long Point to Taieri Mouth was searched by boat yesterday as there was a strong current and the Kristala had been found north of the area where the two were believed to have been fishing.
Land search and rescue teams searched from Long Point to Wangoloa yesterday and today searchers would re-search areas searched yesterday.
"The sea is a devil for allowing people to be found; it's so vast, so many variables," he said.
In 2003, Mr Kopua and Grahame Browne were rescued after battling cold seas for more than 45 minutes after being flipped into the water when a rogue wave hit their boat as they crossed the sand bar at Surat Bay. Both suffered abrasions and hypothermia.
A 13-year-old Balclutha girl, Eluned Finney, drowned when a powerboat driven by her father capsized on the sandbar at Surat Bay on January 15, 2014.
Mrs Burling's husband, Terry, was killed in a workplace accident in 2001, when he was electrocuted while testing the hoist on a truck that came into contact with high-power voltage lines.
