Coastguard – Hibiscus 1 to the rescue

January 3 turned into a 15 hour day (about twice as long as usual), which included a rescue, a Mayday and a couple of other interesting challenges.

We started the shift with a pager call at 7.15am to assist a launch with mechanical problems anchored in Oneroa Bay on Waiheke Island. Hibiscus Rescue 1 attempted to jump start the vessel but unfortunately this was unsuccessful and we ended up hooking her up for a tow to Half Moon Bay boat ramp. Luckily due to the towed vessel’s design, we got her up to 15 knots, which is fast for a tow. Despite this it was still two and a half hours and we were all desperate for a coffee upon arrival!

We were heading back into the Hauraki Gulf when we were tasked to help a small yacht that was having engine problems and wasn’t set for sail. She was sitting behind Motuihe Island and needed a tow back to Whenuapai, which was a first for most of the crew on board. This involved a slow tow  – three and a half hours – with tight manoeuvring up the channel around Herald Island. We got her safely back to her mooring and started back towards Westhaven for a pitstop.

With coffee in hand we were tasked to a yacht off Mission Bay that was heading towards Bayswater Marina but couldn’t get the engine started. Shortly after hooking up we were issued instructions to drop the tow and head as fast as possible towards St Heliers where a jetski with four passengers had broken down and was drifting into the shipping channel. This was a priority, so we sped towards the area and managed to locate them as they headed further out to sea. It turned out that a line that had been towing a sea biscuit had gone up the intake and jammed the engine.

We returned them to Kohimaramara and headed back to the yacht that we had dropped earlier. Luckily it was plain sailing from there and we returned the yacht to Bayswater safely. By this stage it was 6pm and we were all tired. While heading towards home we received a Mayday call to assist a suspected cardiac arrest patient out at Oneroa Bay where we had started our day. There wasn’t a lot of information but we got there as fast as possible and as we entered the bay, found that paramedics from Waiheke had treated the patient and we were to transport them to the Westpac Rescue Helicopter on the beach.

This involved strapping the patient to our stretcher, beaching the boat and then jumping in to carry the patient to the waiting crew on land. It’s fabulous when a plan comes together and the patient and paramedics were safely on shore and on their way to hospital for treatment in a short time.

We finally arrived back on our berth, tired and ready for sleep at 10.30pm.