A boat captain who left two people on his small boat while he went solo scuba diving off the south coast of Wellington, New Zealand, triggered an air-sea rescue after the pair called emergency services to report they were being blown out to sea and could not operate the boat.
Local police said the emergency call came in at around 4pm on Thursday, 5 March. The 5.4m long runabout was close to shore when the skipper decided to go diving, but conditions deteriorated and began to push the boat out to sea.
‘The boaties were experiencing gale force winds up to 88km/h, it was getting rougher with up to 2m waves as they were being blown out to sea,’ a police spokesperson said in a statement.
‘The boaties also reported that the boat owner and skipper who had been on the trip with them had been scuba diving closer to shore and was still in the water.’
The Wellington Police Maritime Unit responded with support from Wellington Volunteer Coastguard and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter. RNZ reported that the skipper was the only one of the three who knew how to drive the vessel.
A police launch found the drifting runabout 6km offshore at around 4.30pm, and one of the officers was able to board and drive it back to shore.
‘Due to the rough sea conditions, a police officer was transferred onto the boat via an inflatable tender,’ said the police. ‘The officer was then able to safely return the vessel and its occupants to the Owhiro Bay boat ramp.’
The boat’s captain was located waving to attract the police helicopter at around 5.30pm, having swum to shore after surfacing from the dive to find his boat missing. He was transferred to Wellington Airport.
Although all three men were rescued safely, the police said the incident showed the value of a coordinated response in difficult conditions.
Senior Launch Master Constable Nicko McGregor added that the incident highlighted the importance of proper prior preparation before going out on the water.
‘These two men can consider themselves lucky,’ he said. ‘These difficult weather conditions were no place for a small runabout to be.”
‘This is a reminder of how quickly situations at sea can change. Good preparation and formal training make a real difference when things don’t go to plan on the water.’
