KEY POINTS:
Two men are lucky to be alive following an icy 1 1/2-hour swim across Tauranga Harbour after their boat sank in seconds.
"After swimming about halfway across, everything started to burn - my lungs and my muscles. I couldn't feel my legs," said Brendon Thomas, 22, a few hours after his ordeal on Sunday morning.
With him on the 6.4m plywood boat was Andrew Crisp, 36.
"Andrew tried to get his cellphone when the boat began to sink but he got caught under the canopy as it filled up with water and I had to reach in and help pull him out.
"It all happened so quickly - we had just seconds to get our boots off and she was gone."
What began as a pleasant Sunday fishing trip quickly turned to disaster. The Katikati men set out about 8am and went across the Bowentown bar to fish in the ocean.
"After a couple of hours it got a bit choppy so we came back inside," said Mr Thomas.
"Once we were over the bar we began to relax and were cruising along at about three-quarter throttle when we heard a crack.
"We looked around and everything seemed fine and then the motor spluttered, like it was out of gas, but it was under water and the back of the boat was sinking. I think we hit something. Maybe a log."
Within seconds all that remained above the surface was the bow of the boat.
"We were in the water discussing our options - swim to Matakana Island, about 50m away, and walk for hours to get help, or swim across the harbour to Ongare Pt. There were no other boats around."
Concern about hypothermia setting in if they were to walk far enough to find help on the island was what convinced the men to swim for Ongare Pt instead. Mr Thomas gave his friend the life jacket and tried swimming with an oil can as a flotation aid.
"I soon gave that away and just went for it. I was so relieved when I got to the sandbar, but then my legs wouldn't work properly when I tried to walk."
On the other side of the bar it was back into the water and the final swim to shore. "The tide was coming in and that helped us." By the time he got to shore Mr Crisp was some way behind.
Mr Thomas made for a house at Ongare Pt with a boat outside and asked the occupants to go and get his friend. "The lady gave me a hot coffee and a shower and warm clothes while her husband went to get Andrew."
Concerned that the submerged boat was a maritime hazard, Mr Thomas, his uncle Doug, Mr Crisp and neighbour Graham Fisher towed it back in.
"We were very lucky," Mr Thomas said. "There were times out there when I thought it could be good night nurse, but I just kept thinking I want to go fishing again. I'm not giving up."
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
