Aspirated 9 km out to sea: father and son taken from the rising waters near Gisborne

As Paora Ropiha struggled to reach the coast in the middle of “shark country”, he told himself that he could not die, that he needed to find his father, who had drifted out to sea in the rising waters.

His father would eventually be rescued 9 km from the coast, while Ropiha was found 1 km from the beach.

Early Sunday morning, the 21-year-old builder, his father Winton and his 13-year-old brother Wiremu had headed out in kayaks from Turihaua, north of Gisborne, to dive for shellfish.

During the 30 minutes they were underwater, the calm sea turned choppy and the anchored kayaks broke loose and drifted in strong winds.

Ropiha’s brother and her father’s friend, who was in a nearby boat, managed to return to shore and raise the alarm, prompting a search and rescue operation involving police, the Coast Guard and the Helicopter Trust. Tairawhiti Rescue on Sunday morning.

Ropiha and her 52-year-old father took off their scuba gear, separated the kayaks and tried to row towards shore, but the wind was pushing them back.

“The lime from the peaks of the sea, the wind was pushing it so hard that it felt like a jet of water on the face,” said Ropiha.

His kayaks were breaking apart and when his father turned around he sank into the water.

Ropiha put on his fins and mask and began to swim, dragging his kayak behind him, while his dad tried to row his kayak.

After swimming for half an hour, Ropiha jumped into her kayak to breathe and get her bearings, but realized that her father had disappeared.

“I was in shark country, you couldn’t see anything but blue water.”

At one point he hit a wall and had to give himself a pep talk. “I told myself that it was not my time. I am not leaving yet, not like this.”

Ropiha was finally rescued by the coast guard, about 1 km from the coast.

“I told them to go find my dad first and they said ‘no’, they told me I had to get on the boat.”

After getting him on board, they began a grid search for Winton.

Ropiha said he was getting anxious and was trying to block out some dark thoughts as he could only see the lime crashing into the boat during the 90-minute search.

“The thoughts of never seeing him again, the thoughts of if he had fallen out of his kayak and his kayak drifted away, we found the kayak but not him, all those emotions were running through my mind at the time” .

At the same time, Winton, who had flown about 9 kilometers out to sea, was worried about his son.

The wind carried him further out to sea and his main concern was trying to stay in his kayak.

Initially, he was not overly concerned about his son, who grew up near the water and was heading towards the reef where he would be protected.

However, that changed when he saw the rescue helicopter approach and fly over him before flying.

“I thought the helicopter had seen me because it was floating and I greeted it, but it took off.

“What I was worried about was if they were looking for my son [knowing I was safe]. “

Unaware that Winton had not been seen, he tried to concentrate on staying afloat until help arrived.

“I was like ‘I’m not going to die today’, it was just about staying in the (kayak) since I had my wetsuit on and it was warm.”

When the Coast Guard ship finally appeared, more than an hour later, her thoughts weren’t about him, but about whether they had found her son.

“As he got closer, I was counting the people in the boat, then I saw my son and that was a relief to me. I was really worried that he was the one they were looking for.”

Ropiha was equally happy to see her father: “I was collapsing with relief.”

As they approached the kayak, Winton said, “Are you okay my son?”

“We broke down, hugged each other, and thanked our rescue team,” Ropiha said.

He said the Coast Guard were heroes and had saved their lives.

Coast Guard Capt. Adrian Brown, who was one of three crewmembers involved in the search, said it was the best rescue he had been involved in during his 13 years with the Coast Guard.

He said both men had been in relatively good shape despite Winton being in the water for hours, something he attributed to his thick wetsuit.

The relief on the ship was immense when they saw Winton and the father and son were overwhelmed with excitement as they reunited.

“They were very, very, very happy.”