Stewart Island men rescued

Two Stewart Island men had to be rescued from a dinghy in Foveaux Strait after their boat struck a rock and began to take on water on Saturday night.

The men were taking the boat from Fiordland to Stewart Island for its owners when the 12m wooden cruiser Jessica struck Gull Rock about 800m northeast of Stewart Island.

Boat skipper Gordon Leask said he had been fishing around Stewart Island for most of his life so knew the area well, but while trying to make the boat's radar work had veered off course and hit the rock.

"It definitely froze you (when they hit the rock). It was a nice calm night and I was pretty relaxed going through there.

"If I didn't have the radar I would have been good as gold," he said.

Mr Leask said after the accident the bilge alarm went off and he and his crewmate tried to find the leak, but couldn't so they tied a marker buoy to it and climbed into the dinghy.

About five minutes later another boat arrived to rescue the pair and a fire pump was used to remove water from the boat as it was towed to Halfmoon Bay, at Stewart Island, he said.

It was unknown how much it would cost to repair the boat, but it had a split in the bow and the rudder was bent from putting it on to the slip at Halfmoon Bay, Mr Leask said.

Invercargill Senior Sergeant Maggie Windle said the Riverton coastguard's Russell John Chisholm boat, Bluff coastguard, Southport boat Takatimu and several fishing boats in the area responded to the incident.

The men were well prepared with lifejackets, flares, a cellphone and a light.

A Maritime New Zealand spokeswoman said it was unknown if the accident would be investigated.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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John Stewart   #1   09:14 pm Jun 27 2010

Fluff!

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