ADRIFT IN SMALL BOAT

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 24 April 1935, Page 6

ADRIFT IN SMALL BOAT

FISHERMEN’S EXPERIENCE LAKE TARAWERA STORM ROTORUA, Aprill 22. A party of fishermen who‘ disregarded ominous weather signs and ventured on to Lake Tarawera yesterday in an outboard motor Japnch had a trying experience. Their objective lay in the direction •of the Tarawera River outlet, six miles from the AA'airoa landing. When hearing their goal the motor of the boat broke down, and repairs proved too difficult a problem for the mechanic on hoard ,the small ciaft ■being left to the mercy of wind and waves. Heavy rain squalls beat upon the launch, a rising wind and a choppy sea drenched the party spray, ‘raul safety demanded an urgent landing somewhere, but. where no one kni'V, for thick mist had completely blotted out the coastline. Darkness came on, and . hazarding a guess in which direction the best landing could he made, the fishermen, applied themselves to the oars and rowed desperately against a head wind. Progress was slow, and one of two alternatives loomed up in the minds of the harassed men, either lo spend the night afloat, drenched through, or risk a landing wherever the launch touched shore. A decision had not been reached when one of the party detected a faint momentary play of light rti a lowlying hank of. cloud. The light came from the headlamps of a .motor car travelling along the AA'airoa, Road. Bearings were taken, the direction kept steadfastly in mind, and two hours of hard rowing in relays brought the party safely, but wet through and tired, back to the AVairoa landing.