Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005. Kayaker rescued off Taranaki coast.
Derek Cruikshank, a capsized kayaker spent two hours in freezing waters off the South Taranaki coast yesterday before being plucked to safety by helicopter.
Police said if it had not been for the quick actions of his fishing colleague on shore, Kapuni farmer Derek Cruikshank would have perished in the rough seas.
About 08:00 am a gust of wind tipped Mr Cruikshank from his sea kayak as he was setting fishing lines off Puketapu Rd, about 10km south-east of Opunake. He clung to the kayak, but a blustery off-shore wind pushed him further out to sea.
Peter Clouse watched from the shore as his friend struggled in vain to get back in the kayak.
Police, two teams of ambulance paramedics and Opunake surf lifesavers with two irbs were called, and a crowd of onlookers gathered on cliff tops to watch.
The Tet Taranaki rescue helicopter, dropped two rescue divers into the freezing water, about 800 metres off shore, just before 10am.
The helicopter then flew to shore to change equipment, while the divers stayed with Mr Cruikshank.
The trio was picked up and returned to dry land about 10:10am, after Mr Cruikshank had spent almost two hours in the water. The kayak was left to make its way to Australia.
Helicopter pilot Richard Foale said the wind had been blowing between 35-40 knots at the time of the rescue.
Mr Foale said that the kayak disappeared from view in a matter of minutes after being let go, he said.
Speaking from Hawera Hospital, Mr Cruikshank, who had borderline hypothermia when he arrived, was in good spirits. He said the water had been freezing and he was lucky his friend was on the beach.
Mr Cruikshank, who donates money to the Tet rescue helicopter each year, said he was rapt to see it arrive.
“It has paid off this time.”
The sea and weather conditions near the cliffs had been calm, before an unexpected gust of wind knocked him out, he said.
Opunake Sergeant Mike Hannah said Mr Cruikshank had made an error in judgment going out in his kayak.
Taranaki lies on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, halfway between the country’s largest city, Auckland, and the capital, Wellington. The region’s principal town, New Plymouth, is 373 kilometres from Auckland, 357 kilometres from Wellington. The region takes its name from the 2518-metre volcano, Mt Taranaki, which is also known as Mt Egmont.
Taranaki is a Maori word born of legend and is the name of a snow-capped volcano that lords it over the region where much of the movie The Last Samurai, a story set in feudal Japan and starring Tom Cruise, was filmed.
According to the Maori legend, Taranaki was one of a group of volcanoes, which includes the 1968-metre-high Tongariro, near the centre of the North Island. Taranaki was forced to leave rather hurriedly when Tongariro caught him with the beautiful Pihanga, the volcano near Lake Taupo who was Tongariro’s lover. Tongariro exploded in anger, spitting fire, lava and burning ash and causing the very earth to rumble and shake. Taranaki fled to the coast, where he was stopped by the sea at Wanganui. He continued fleeing, in a new northwesterly direction, to where he now stands in majestic, if lonely, isolation.
22nd June 2005
By Leighton Keith.
[Ignacio Wenley Palacios]
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