The owner of a jet ski found washed up on Peka Peka beach (Kapiti Coast) this morning is safe and well in Wanganui.
Senior Sergeant Alisdair Macmillan, Kapiti Police, said a beach walker found the damaged Kawasaki jet ski about 9am and with no immediate sign of a rider, correctly contacted police.
A fixed wing aircraft from Paraparaumu Airport, the Kapiti Coastguard launch and police in four wheel drive vehicles spent nearly three hours combing the search zone until the mystery was solved.
Police checked the jet ski's engine number with a Kawasaki service and sales centre which was able to pinpoint a Wanganui reference. A phone call revealed the jet ski's owner was alive - he had become separated from the machine while crossing the Wanganui River bar last Tuesday.
Time and tides had washed the jet ski south down the coast.
"We're pleased everything turned out for the best," Senior Sergeant Macmillan said.
ends