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Source: ONE News -
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It's been a hectic first season of daily patrols for Auckland's Westpac rescue helicopter.
The chopper and its crew have been patrolling the region's east and west coast beaches, every single day, since Christmas.
From around 300 metres up, every single detail of the sea is visible including the water's power, which isn't always clear at sea level.
It was underestimated by a man on this boat on Auckland's Manukau Harbour on Saturday. His boat flipped, trapping him underneath.
The same with a fisherman at Piha who was washed off the rocks a week ago.
"The fisherman had snagged his line, climbed down the rocks to unsnag his line for a 50 cent hook and sinker and he lost his life," says rescue pilot Darryl Sherwin.
And on Sunday, while searching for him, ONE News saw plenty of others risking their lives on the rocks.
"I think rock fishing is still, you know a huge problem for us, still so many guys out there not wearing the correct safety equipment, you know they're out there alone in big surf, high tides so I think that message just needs to really be driven home," says Daid Butt of Surf Lifesaving New Zealand.
The summer's attracting hordes of people to our beaches and that's meant a busy time for the rescue helicopter.
"A lot of times we're actually getting jobs while we're on the surf patrol, so instead of winding up from the base we're actually straight into it as we're flying so we've actually saved a lot of time sometimes being in the air, doing the surf patrols responding to jobs," rescue pilot Leon Ford.
Jobs the rescue chopper guys wish they didn't have to do. Like scouring the coastline for the missing member of someone's family.
