{"id":217376,"date":"2026-01-05T05:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T05:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/217376\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T05:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T05:59:08","slug":"well-prepared-boaties-left-stranded-after-breakdown-off-fiordland-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/217376\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Well prepared’ boaties left stranded after breakdown off Fiordland coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Life-jackets<\/p>\n

\nThe men were equipped with lifejackets, two forms of communication and had not drunk any alcohol.
\nPhoto: 123RF\n<\/p>\n

The rescue of two men stranded on a boat in Fiordland has prompted warnings to other boaties about the need to be prepared.<\/p>\n

The pair were on a fishing and diving trip south of Milford Sound when their 6.4 metre recreational boat broke down on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Emergency SOS messages from their phones were picked up by the iPhone Emergency Comms Centre in the Netherlands, which then alerted New Zealand Police.<\/p>\n

Marine VHF radio broadcasts were then put out by Maritime NZ every hour, requesting assistance from any potential vessels in the area.<\/p>\n

These broadcasts went unanswered until Sunday morning, when a boatie heard the call for help.<\/p>\n

At the time, police and family members were arranging a float plane to fly replacement batteries to the stranded men.<\/p>\n

But the fisherman and his three passengers went to the pair’s rescue and were able to tow the stricken vessel about 50 kilometres back to Milford Sound.<\/p>\n

Invercargill Police search and rescue coordinator Sergeant Dougall Henderson said the men were equipped with lifejackets, two forms of communication and had not drunk any alcohol.<\/p>\n

“Although the boys were well prepared… the incident highlights how difficult assistance can be if you have a mechanical failure or emergency situation,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It is a timely reminder of the golden rules of boating particularly in isolated areas like Fiordland.”<\/p>\n

Police outlined outlined several key guidelines for boaties.<\/p>\n

They included: always wearing lifejackets; ensuring two forms of communication on board, including a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) or Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB); checking the weather forecast, avoiding alcohol; ensuring others know where you are headed; and ensuring you had an auxiliary motor.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The men were equipped with lifejackets, two forms of communication and had not drunk any alcohol. Photo: 123RF…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-217376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217376","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=217376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}