Paddling with their hands, torches clenched between their teeth, Constables Josh Kauika and Rory Jones headed into darkness towards desperate cries for help after two fishermen capsized in the cold waters of Whangārei Harbour.
The drama began when two Auckland visitors were reported overdue from a recent kayak fishing trip at Parua Bay. The duo had set off from Ritchie Road foreshore on a plastic double kayak that seemed to be taking on water.
They continued to a rocky outcrop, about 300m offshore, where they landed a snapper. Their friends, who had been watching through binoculars, then lost sight of the men due to darkness closing in and raised the alarm.
Answering the call, Josh and Rory headed to the end of Wharf Road, where they parked the patrol car and shone its headlights across the black expanse.
“We could hear calls for help but we couldn’t see anyone,” says former Navy diver Josh. “They were about 400m from shore and drifting.
“We yelled out for them to stay where they were. The next response back was, ‘we need help he’s drowning’. That sent chills up my spine.”
Rory, a keen surfer, knew it was going to be too far to swim and they would need some means of getting the men back to shore.
“I knew we were going out," he says. "There was no way we were just going to stand there.”
Onerahi Constable Spence Penney heard the job on the radio and, with knowledge of the area and experience as a former Search And Rescue member, recommended the officers try to get a dinghy or a vessel to go out on the water.
The constables ran to a nearby house where the owners gave them a kayak, minus the paddle, and a surfboard to use. The duo used the vessels like kneeboards, and holding their torches in their mouths, paddled towards where they had last heard the desperate fishermen.
Josh says after about 400m, anchored boats came into view.
“I couldn’t hear the voices anymore. I was thinking the worst. But then I heard splashing behind a catamaran, and they were trying to scramble up the back.”
Josh pushed the men aboard. Both were hypothermic but one was close to stopping shivering – a bad sign. Josh got on board and phoned Spence on shore to update him, saying: “They’re in bad shape.”
Rory was also on hand and together they removed the men’s wet clothing, towelled them dry and wrapped them in blankets.
“We were lucky we got there when we did,” says Josh. “One guy was at the point where his body was about to shut down.”
In the meantime, SAR incident controller Detective Sergeant Paul Overton had rung a local he knew in Parua Bay and asked if he could launch his rib to look for the missing fisherman. Coastguard had been contacted but were at least 30 minutes away.
Coincidentally, the boat the men had scrambled aboard was owned by the man dispatched to help find them. He boarded with his teenage son and quickly brewed up hot drinks before pulling alongside the wharf at the Parua Bay boating club to avoid the men being further exposed to the elements.
The men were checked over by a paramedic and deemed well enough to return to their Airbnb accommodation.
Josh and Rory returned to Whangārei Station, had a shower, a meal and went back out on the road until the end of their shift.
The fishermen had been wearing lifejackets, but they were not fitted well and one of the men could not swim. When their kayak flipped after taking on water they were unable to get back on.
Detective Sergeant Paul Overton says the incident highlights the need to check all vessels before going out on the water, and the importance of having two forms of communication and making sure lifejackets are fitted correctly.
“It was great team work between all those involved and being able to respond quickly avoided a tragic outcome.”