Four people are safe after their vessel capsized north of Stewart Island on Friday, rescued from the water by a passing fishing boat before Coastguard could reach them.
Coastguard Riverton volunteers were monitoring channel 16 when a mayday call came through and launched rescue vessel Russel John Chisholm. At the same time, the vessel's registered emergency position-indicating radio beacon activated automatically, giving Maritime New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre an exact location to send responders to.
The fishing vessel got there first. Its crew pulled all four people from the water before the Coastguard crew arrived. When Riverton's volunteers reached the scene, they checked everyone over — all four reported they were OK.
Two pieces of kit made the difference here. The VHF radio on channel 16 meant the mayday was heard and acted on immediately. The registered EPIRB meant there was no searching — responders knew exactly where to go.
Coastguard acknowledged the fishing vessel crew, the Rescue Coordination Centre, Police Search and Rescue, and everyone else who responded, as well as the Riverton volunteers.
The message for anyone heading out on the water is straightforward: keep your VHF on channel 16 — so you can hear anyone who needs help and so help can hear you — and carry a registered EPIRB. As Friday showed, it can cut the time between a capsize and a rescue down to minutes.