WELLINGTON: An aerial search for two fishermen missing off the coast of Port Waikato has failed to reveal any sign of the men.
The search resumed this morning, with the police Eagle helicopter sweeping the area around where the men’s boat was found.
Arthur Brown, 67, who lives in nearby Tuakau, and a 57-year-old friend from Pahiatua in Manawatu were reported missing by one of the men’s concerned partners after failing to return from a fishing trip.
Search teams scoured the area all day yesterday and found the pair’s capsized boat near the mouth of the Waikato River.
The 5.7m runabout was deeply embedded in sand at low tide and unable to be turned over or towed back to land. A small hole was made in it in the hope of checking inside for bodies, but this had to be abandoned due to darkness and the tide closing in.
The search would be recommenced at first light today, police said.
Among those waiting for news at Port Waikato, 60km south of central Auckland, was Mr Brown’s partner, Vicki Carter.
She sat silently on a seat at the wharf, staring out towards the river mouth, supported by about six other people.
Pete Pleydell, president of the Port Waikato Fishing Club of which Mr Brown had previously been a member, said the “excellent fisherman” usually stuck to fishing in the river or off the wharf.
“[He was] a prolific fisherman all right. Fished mainly in the Waikato River itself. Going out over the bar was very strange, to us that know him fairly well, for him to venture across the bar.
“He’s normally a fisherman in the river, because the bar is a little bit scary, he told me. He didn’t like the bar.”
Mr Pleydell described Mr Brown as an experienced boatie and fisherman who usually fished with his brother and mates in the river.
“He loved his fishing, for real. An excellent fisherman. Always caught quite a lot of fish, but out from the wharf, where his car’s still parked, so venturing across [the bar] was unusual, really. So we’re all feeling for it, of course.”
Mr Pleydell added: “We just had our big Kahawai Classic on Sunday, which he couldn’t attend, and he’s gone out the following day and that’s when it happened.”
Mr Pleydell said the bar was notoriously difficult to cross.
“The Port Waikato Bar is one that inexperienced people should ask the locals how it works. Even those that are well known to the bar can certainly tip out on it,” he said.
Paying tribute to Mr Brown, Mr Pleydell said he was “just one of the boys, really”.
“A good fisherman. [He would] give you anything. He had a big heart and [was] a good bugger all round.”
Mr Pleydell and other club members headed to the wharf last night to see if they could be of help, and to comfort Mr Brown’s family.
On Monday night, members of the club had offered to help with the initial search, which involved the Coastguard’s New Zealand Steel rescue vessel, the police Eagle helicopter and the Westpac rescue Helicopter, as well as two local surf lifesaving clubs.
Sergeant Tod Kirker of Tuakau police said there were lifejackets on the missing men’s boat but he was unsure if they were wearing them.
Mr Kirker said conditions had worsened on Monday evening. “It is a fairly treacherous piece of water. I don’t got too many years where I don’t have a boat flip up. It is a very tricky bar and dangerous spot.”
The Coastguard confirmed the fishermen did not lodge a crossing report with it before attempting to cross the bar.
Sunset Beach Surf Lifesaving Club captain Shane Edwards thought the men might have been caught out by the end at the weekend of daylight saving, with darkness creeping in earlier than they might have expected.
The boat was found yesterday morning.
