Stuck fishing boat towed to safety

GONE SURFING: Bluff fishing trawler the Silver Fern beached at Curio Bay yesterday.

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A Bluff fishing boat was dragged to safety after it beached at Curio Bay off the Catlins coast yesterday.

The crew of the Silver Fern, a 12-metre wooden-hulled trawler, issued a mayday call at 5.49am to the Rescue Co-ordination Centre to report it was stuck.

Senior Sergeant Dave Raynes, of Invercargill, said there were two men on board the vessel and they were never in any danger.

Police organised an oyster boat, the Argosy, which was fishing near Stewart Island, to pull it off the beach.

Constable Richard Lindsay, of Wyndham, said it was not a particularly difficult operation but did require careful co-ordination.

They had to wait for high tide for the rescue attempt and the boat was dragged free using a towline about 11.10am, he said.

Once in open water the vessel was towed to Waikawa for repairs before it was towed back to Bluff, Mr Lindsay said.

He did not know how badly damaged the vessel was but suspected it would be minor.

Mr Lindsay said the boat had been moored in the bay overnight and it appeared the anchor dragged through soft sand.

When the wind changed to an easterly, the boat was pushed to shore, he said.

"They woke up and were on the beach. You could walk out to it and only be in knee-deep water."

Curio Bay store worker Grace Todd, who watched the operation unfold, said in her 32 years living in the area she had never seen anything like it.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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