Jet Ski Malfunction Leads Coast Guard to the Rescue

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Jet Ski Malfunction Leads Coast Guard to the Rescue

Jet Ski Malfunction Leads Coast Guard to the Rescue
Lives saved

2

Fishing

Fishing

Ocean

Ocean

Mechanical failure

Mechanical failure

Normal conditions

Normal conditions

Fishing

Jet Ski Malfunction Leads Coast Guard to the Rescue

36.1946° S°N, 175.0753° E°E

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Daniel

What happened?

A friend and I decided to head out on a Sunday afternoon fishing trip on my new fishing jet ski on the 17th of July. We decided to head out to Little Barrier Island which is about 30 kms offshore, we had gone fishing there a few times previously. We finished our fishing trip at around 16:15 and started making our way back across from Little Barrier Island to the Omaha boat ramp.

Daniel’s Fishing Expedition

On our way back, around 15 kms from Omaha boat ramp, the jet ski’s power cut out. At this point I tried to start the jet ski unsuccessfully and decided to wait 5 mins before trying to start it again. I reached towards the back of the ski to grab a soft bait rod to have a cast or two while waiting when I noticed water coming over the back of the ski more than it should be and when I looked closer I could see that the ski was taking on water.

I immediately informed my friend that I believed the ski was sinking while getting my cell phone to call the Coast Guard. I called the Coast Guard while my friend sent our location details to a few key contacts and he called the Police. I gave the Coast Guard the details of our situation as well as our location details from the information I had on the ski and they swiftly organised a rescue boat to come assist us.

Daniel’s Fishing Expedition

While the rescue boat was on its way to us the Police and Coast Guard requested that we activate the ACR PLB-400 I had on me. The PLB played a huge role in allowing the Coast Guard to accurately and quickly locate the 2 of us and was most likely my most critical piece of safety gear that assisted during the incident.

“Sunday night save. Tonight We have been out on the water responding to a jet ski taking on water with 2 people on board (POB).We were about to load the boat on to the trailer when the call came in [and we were] quickly making our way to the jetskiers location between Omaha and Little Barrier. On scene the duo were found safe and well & wearing their lifejackets. We brought the two people on board Kawau Rescue, warmed up and made our way back to Omaha with their ski under tow.Big ups to the pair for wearing their lifejackets and for carrying cellphones and a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) on board. They could easily raise the alarm when things starting going down hill and made it very easy to locate them as a result! Legends!”

– Kawau Volunteer Coast Guard
Kawau Volunteer Coast Guard Image

The rescue boat took about 40 mins to get to us which is incredibly fast given where we were at the time and they arrived before the ski had fully submerged. This ended up being a close call where my friend and I were lucky to come away from the incident without any serious issues and the ACR PLB made this incredibly uncomfortable and dangerous situation a lot easier to deal with and allowed for critical time to be saved by the Coast Guard while trying to locate us.

Words of wisdom

Take safety seriously, always think of what you would like to have on you if the worst situation possible occurs. I was on a new jet ski that had given no indication of having any issues before it started sinking, but thanks to having some safety gear on me I was lucky enough to be able to inform the Coast Guard and the Police of our situation quickly and provide them with updated information on our location. If we had not had the PLB and other safety gear the situation would very likely have turned out much worse than a close call.

Thank you note

I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone from the Coast Guard and the Police who assisted my friend and I with the rescue effort. Everyone’s assistance was immensely appreciated and I cannot say thank you enough for all the help and support that was provided to us. I am extremely grateful that the Coast Guard and the Police were able to assist us as quickly as they did. A massively HUGE thank you to everyone at the Coast Guard and the Police and a special thanks to all who assisted us.

Rescue location

Little Barrier Island

Rescue team

Coast Guard

ResQLink™ 400

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