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“We didn’t think we were going to get out of there and we could barely keep our heads above the water, we were sure we would soon die,” the man told The New Zealand Herald.
The pair set off for a jet ski on Lake Rotorua on Boxing Day around 5.30pm in calm conditions.
But when they were 300 meters from shore, the wind “suddenly came out of nowhere” and a wave knocked them off the jet ski.
“I was out of breath when I hit the water,” said the man who is a doctor in his 60s.
The jet ski’s kill switch was activated, but the wind picked up and carried it away.
“At that point, I realized that I was more than out of breath as every time I kicked I could feel that things were not right and I realized that I had broken my ribs.”
Fortunately, they were both wearing life jackets, something that probably helped save their lives.
They spent the next two hours floating on the lake, hugging each other to try to keep warm, as the waves crashed overhead.
“As time passed and the situation became more desperate, we tied our life jackets in case one of us lost consciousness,” said the father.
They blew the whistles on their life jackets to try to attract attention and kicked as much as they could in a desperate attempt to get closer to shore, but conditions worsened.
It was at that moment that they began to lose hope, they got ready to say goodbye and said: “I love you.”
The daughter, in her 30s, said she was genuinely worried about her father, who at the time was severely hypothermic and had a partially collapsed lung.
“He had stopped shaking and was turning bluer when he inhaled water that he couldn’t cough up.”
The father said the couple could barely hold their heads above the water and was sure they would die soon.
Back on shore, the man’s partner had alerted police, who called the Rotorua Lakes Coast Guard.
This being St. Stephen’s Day, the Coast Guard volunteers were home with their families, but they rushed to the lake, and six crew members made it there in 15 minutes.
The father and daughter were found after 15 minutes about 2 km from Hamurana Bay with their jet ski almost 4 km from them.
Rotorua Lakes Coast Guard volunteer Jonathan Findon said the couple were very lucky.
“There are a lot of things that came together to keep them alive: being seen so fast, getting in the water as fast as we did when they called us. Being in any water for a period of time is really hard on the body. I think you know how lucky. they were “.
Findon said the father spoke well and appeared to be fine when they first put him on the boat, but his condition quickly deteriorated.
“It was definitely a situation where he needed to go back to shore for medical attention sooner rather than later.”
He said this particular rescue would be memorable.
“In terms of general luck, it’s not that far [from] recovering corpses, absolutely, they were lucky. “
The Coast Guard crew immediately called an ambulance to meet them at the store, he said.
“Neither of them could stand up and the father could not speak, they both had to be restrained on the journey back to shore.”
St John confirmed that two minor patients were transferred from Sulfur Point to Rotorua Hospital around 7.25pm.
The father, who has rescued two other skiers in the past, was very grateful to the Coast Guard volunteers who came to his aid.
“I will always remember seeing the bow wave when you approached us. You have really made a huge difference to many people.”
“I would like to heartily thank everyone who participated in getting my daughter and me out of the lake. I think we were about 10 minutes away from being another statistic.”
