Overdue boaties found safe and well

At 1939 hours last night (Sunday 22 November), Coastguard Radio was informed by Police of two overdue boaties in the Northland Area.

The two boaties had departed Mangawhai on a 4m tinny at 0600 hours yesterday morning and planned to head to the Hen & Chicken Islands before returning at 1400hours. The alarm was raised some hours later when they had failed to return and neither was answering their mobile phones.

Police Eagle Helicopter located both the vessel and two people on shore on the southern side of Taranga Island (the Hen) shortly before 9pm last night with Coastguard Rescue Vessel ‘Circa Rescue’ from Coastguard Whangarei departing Marsden Cove shortly after arriving on scene at 2155 hours.

Due to conditions Police Deodar tender with one Coastguard Volunteer and one Police Officer was used to retrieve the men from shore and transport them to Circa rescue where they were checked over by Coastguard Volunteers before being transported back to Marsden Cove where they were reunited with family at the Coastguard Base.

The Vessel is still anchored and will look to retrieve today.

“It appears the vessel had run into mechanical difficulty, a common theme as we head into summer with many boats having sat around for the winter months. It’s great that they told someone where they were going and when they planned to be back but with limited or no communications with them they were unable to raise the alarm when they found themselves with no way to get home, this also would have helped rescuers to narrow the search area quickly” says Coastguard Duty Officer, Nico Dooderman.

They were really grateful to us for coming to rescue them, says Jo Norgrove, Rescue Vessel Skipper”.

When their vessel started having fuel problems, the pair decided to row back to Mangawhai but quickly realised that due to conditions this wasn’t going to work. They made the decision to land on the nearest point they could and having watched a lot of rescue shows they knew they needed to stick together, stay warm and await a rescue. With this they lit a small fire where they were able to keep warm and attract the attention of rescuers”.

We can’t stress enough the importance of carrying two forms of water proof communications with you when you head out on the water and to log a trip report with Coastguard Radio it’s quick and easy via the Coastguard app. If you’ve been putting it off, now is the time to get your boat serviced before heading out to enjoy the water this summer” says Mrs Norgrove.

ENDS