A man has been rescued after being found hypothermic in the waters off Great Barrier Island.

“This is an example of how the unexpected can happen so quickly out on the water”, said Mark Leevers, Coastguard Duty Officer. “The man was prepared in that he was wearing his lifejacket and had recently purchased flares and an EPIRB

[emergency beacon] from Trade Me as we understand it the previous week.”

While the man had deployed his EPIRB which had activated the Rescue Coordination Centre, the beacon was actually registered to its previous owner with no GPS fitted — and this required additional time for another pass of the satellite to provide a location, Mr Leever said.

“What was really pleasing to rescuers was that he was wearing a lifejacket,” he added. “Coastguard crew believe had he have been there much longer the outcome could have been very different.”

The man was located by Kawau Rescue at about 5pm, hypothermic, disorientated and floating amongst debris from his vessel.

The incident was a reminder of the importance of carrying appropriate forms of communication, he said.

“The VHF Radio continues to be number one for us as far as communications goes as if we can’t hear the person in trouble it makes an efficient search and rescue effort more difficult.

“The area between Great Barrier Island and Sandspit is vast and it’s just fortunate that Coastguard Volunteers located him when they did.”

Source: www.nzherald.co.nz