The build-up of sand at the entrance to a harbour, or river, can dramatically reduce the depth of the water and increase the height of waves \u2013 especially at low tide.<\/p>\n
The Raglan Bar is one of about 100 in the country, and Teague, a keen fisherman \u2013 mostly in the Hauraki Gulf and off the east coast of the North Island \u2013 is the first to say he\u2019s no Raglan boatie.<\/p>\n
Rescuers on the scene after the boat was tipped over on the Raglan Bar. Photo \/ Morgan Coster<\/p>\n
But the Morrinsville father isn\u2019t a novice, either. He\u2019s had a couple of boats and his fair share of dinghies, and runabouts.<\/p>\n
Over the years he\u2019s made a point of ticking off as many boating courses as he could \u2013 skippers, radio, and one on bar crossings.<\/p>\n
Teague checked the weather before embarking on his fourth Raglan outing. Conditions were pretty good, but as the boat approached the edge of the harbour, he pocketed his personal locator beacon (PLB), just in case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bar was good at that stage,\u201d he recalls, noting another boat was also biding its time for a break in the waves.<\/p>\n
Both of them crossed without issue, and Teague and his crew headed to deeper water.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were looking forward to a good day\u2019s fishing,\u201d he says, but what began well, didn\u2019t continue that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was just a big swell coming through, and every now and again I get seasick … that day was just particularly bad, I started spewing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says when the kids started feeling crook too, they called it. With a dozen snapper on board \u2013 \u201ca few good feeds, more than enough\u201d \u2013 the day\u2019s fishing had wrapped before 10am, hours before schedule.<\/p>\n
Teague says the bar was rougher than anticipated as they headed to the harbour, but heard two boats confirm a successful crossing over the radio.<\/p>\n
His locator beacon went back into his pocket and a crossing report was logged with Coastguard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018People are going in, it\u2019s obviously okay.\u2019 In hindsight, I probably should have sat there and watched it a bit longer.<\/p>\n
\u201c[But given] how I was feeling at the time, I was just bee-lining it back in.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I just carried on, went over the bar, which was fine – my friend was standing behind me spotting waves out the back – and it was in the joggle where we came unstuck.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crew hit the frothing water on the harbour side of the bar, and within seconds it was chaos, with two waves bearing down, Teague says there was nowhere to go but directly into them.<\/p>\n
The boat fell into a trough, spinning sideways as it nosedived and waves crashed over the windscreen and side of the boat.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of them came straight over the side and just washed the kids straight out into the water \u2013 all in one hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty surreal, but I knew it was happening and I looked at them and I could see the panic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within seconds the boat had rolled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only had enough time to tell them \u2013 they were trying to scramble back on the boat – and I just said, \u2018Get out of it\u2019 and then I ripped it [the motor] out of gear.\u201d<\/p>\n
He tried to grab his mate, who\u2019d become trapped in the back corner of the boat, and then it all went quiet.<\/p>\n
At 10.12am, Coastguard Raglan was alerted to a report of a capsized boat on the Raglan Bar. The first rescue jetski hit the water within 10 minutes, followed by a second jetski and a rescue boat.<\/p>\n
Around the same time, two senior Raglan lifeguards \u2013 who\u2019d just arrived at the club for patrol \u2013 got a call about an overturned vessel.<\/p>\n
A couple of minutes later, their inflatable rescue boat (IRB) was on the water speeding towards the bar.<\/p>\n
The underwater calm didn\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n
As he came to the surface, Teague clocked his kids but not his friend.<\/p>\n
He tried desperately to get back under the boat, but couldn\u2019t, and admits feeling a huge sense of relief when his mate finally popped up.<\/p>\n
However, he was without a lifejacket \u2013 he\u2019d been forced to unclip it to get out.<\/p>\n
Teague grabbed the children and the four of them clung to the hull of the upturned boat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve said it to a few people, but it turns out there\u2019s not too much to hold on to on the bottom side of a boat … we ended up back in the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
A floating squab became their refuge, and it was around this time that his locator beacon floated out of his pocket \u2013 he grabbed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was trying to hold on to the kids – I didn\u2019t want to let them go – I couldn\u2019t set it off [immediately] but a boat had gone past us then, and I knew that they were going to radio for help.\u201d<\/p>\n
In between the onslaught of waves and reassuring the children, Teague managed to set the beacon off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could see it flashing, it was going and then it was just a waiting game, I knew that people would be coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raglan Surf Lifesaving director Fletcher Harnish had launched a jetski upon hearing about the distressed vessel and was in hot pursuit of his colleagues in the rescue boat.<\/p>\n
Boaties inside the harbour directed the rescuers to where the stricken boat was last seen.<\/p>\n
The Coastguard and surf lifesavers linked up and just beyond the surf zone, they saw them \u2013 four people and a capsized boat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe two children were picked up and put into the IRB and the adults on the back of the Coastguard jetskis,\u201d Harnish says.<\/p>\n
Back on shore, the four patients were assessed by Hato Hone St John.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were in quite a good position, they\u2019d done everything right. They were calm, just a little bit cold and shaken up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coastguard Raglan volunteer and jetski master Harry Series agrees \u2013 Teague and his crew \u201cdid everything right\u201d \u2013 logging a bar crossing trip report with Coastguard, wearing lifejackets, and activating their personal locator beacon.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut unfortunately things can still go wrong,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Maritime NZ\u2019s principal adviser for recreational craft, Matt Wood, has investigated many fatal incidents and knows the \u201cfine line between fatal and non-fatal\u201d.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s unequivocal in his assessment.<\/p>\n
\u201cDarren\u2019s actions have saved the lives of his children, his friend and himself. Many people don\u2019t survive these things, and he has, as the result of the preparation and things he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood says the majority of boaties get into trouble and die close to shore, with bars being particularly deadly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re extremely hazardous and there\u2019s a lot you need to do to cross safely \u2013 you need to make sure your boat\u2019s seaworthy, and you\u2019ve got the right safety equipment and knowledge.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe sure before you leave the shore.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says Teague did that.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d done a bar crossing course, his boat was fit-for-purpose, and maintained. He also had the right safety equipment, two forms of satellite-based emergency beacons \u2013 one on him and one on the boat \u2013 and the crew were wearing correctly fitted lifejackets, Wood says.<\/p>\n
Despite that, things can still go pear-shaped.<\/p>\n
Teague\u2019s driver to get back to shore \u2013 seasickness \u2013 played a role in the accident, Wood says, but says once things had started to unravel and they were in the water, Teague made decisions that made a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got the ability to call for help and they stuck to the boat as long as they could \u2013 this increases your chances of being found and survival.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce they were separated from the boat they found some floating squabs. They huddled, he calmed the kids, they didn\u2019t panic, which is just fantastic actions that he took.<\/p>\n
\u201cUndoubtedly, if he hadn\u2019t done those things … I think this would have ended differently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to RNZ about that day, weeks later, isn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not really one to do this,\u201d Teague says, \u201cbut if I can help someone else, I will.\u201d<\/p>\n
The capsize hasn\u2019t put him off fishing \u2013 he\u2019s been out since and plans to get another boat \u2013 but it\u2019s in the back of his mind, and his advice for others is simple.<\/p>\n
Take a personal locator beacon, wear a lifejacket and do up the crutch strap (because \u201changing in the water for over half an hour by your neck\u201d is pretty uncomfortable). Be aware of your surroundings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really know how I would have done it different today, other than manage the time of the tide when I was coming in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just one of those things eh, you run off the road in a car too, it was just an accident. It was lucky we had everything in place, I guess, to get away with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
*Information on how to stay safe in the water can be found on the Maritime NZ<\/a> and Coastguard<\/a> websites, which also includes a range of boating courses.<\/p>\n \u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 12- and 14-year-old are bundled into the car, with one of his mates, and they hit the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,38534,5532,18089,3087,124645,7052,111,43,139,69,8527,124644],"class_list":["post-203667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-argue","tag-boat","tag-dramatic","tag-fishing","tag-flips","tag-mary","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rescue","tag-sandbar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}