Napier man drowns on Saturday crayfishing trip
Sunday, 13 March 2016
A 63-year-old man has drowned after going to check crayfish pots with a friend off Waipatiki Beach near Napier.
Police said the Napier man and his 65-year-old companion were on a 5.8m alloy pontoon boat, likely not far from shore, when the vessel 'flipped suddenly' leaving both men in the water.
Hawkes Bay Police Search and Rescue were notified by family members about 10pm on Saturday that the boat was overdue.
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The other man, also from Napier, was found alive on the beach, taken to hospital for hypothermia and released, but the 63-year-old was found dead on rocks soon after midnight.
Hawkes Bay Coastguard and the Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter searched for the boat, which was found near rocks about 5km north of Waipatiki Beach.
Police said the boat left Napier about 3pm and was expected to return three hours later.
Senior Sergeant Luke Shadbolt said the boat was spotted around midnight, the surviving man a few minutes later, and the man who'd died was spotted on rocks about 12.20.
'We had to winch people down to recover him from the rocks this morning.'
He said the two men were 'friends and regular fishing partners and very experienced fishermen and crayfishermen.'
The Coastguard left this morning to see if it could recover the boat, Shadbolt said.
He said conditions yesterday might have seemed relatively calm but if a cray pot or rope was tangled in the propeller, the vessel would have flipped very quickly.
It seemed the men were not wearing lifejackets when the boat flipped suddenly, throwing the men into the water, Shadbolt said
However, the boat was well equipped with safety equipment, including lifejackets, cellphones, a radio and flares, Shadbolt added.
He said the tragedy was a reminder for all boaties to always wear lifejackets at all times, even if they thought lifejackets might be a hindrance when collecting cray pots.
Accidents could happen any time, without warning, Shadbolt said.
More information was being sought from the 65-year-old survivor, who was distressed after the ordeal.
A local at the nearby Waipatiki Beach Farm Park said crayfishing was more common in mid-summer and the area was relatively quiet this weekend.
The Napier Mail said crayfish and paua could be found among seaweed in the area.
Henry van Tuel of Coastguard Hawke's Bay said the boat was thought to have turned over, then gone out to sea a short distance.
He said Waipatiki was popular, mostly with locals, for fishing and cray potting.
Van Tuel understood conditions at seas were calm by late Saturday, with no wind.
A Napier sport fisherman said conditions at 3pm were good too, and though he didn't know what caused the tragedy, said a quick Southerly gust could be all it took for boaties to find themselves in trouble.
The man's death has been referred to the Coroner.
Associates of the victim spoken to on Sunday said it was still too raw following the man's sudden death for them to comment.
In 2013, January 2013, Paraparaumu man Michael Shipp and Hastings schoolboy Lucan Battison were among a group who helped save a woman's life in a dramatic rescue off Waipatiki Beach.
Shipp braved what were described as two metre swells to paddle out in a kayak and provide his own lifejacket to a 21-year-old who was drowning at the beach north of Napier.