A pair of teenage kayakers needed rescuing yesterday after getting into trouble off the Coromandel coast.

The Tauranga-based Trustpower TECT rescue helicopter was dispatched to Whangamata at around lunchtime on Saturday, where two 15-year-old Hamilton youths had fallen out of their kayaks near Clark Island.

Rough sea conditions meant the boys were unable to get back onto their kayaks, and after about 20 minutes in the water they were spotted by a couple of fishermen who were motoring past.

They picked up the teenagers and brought them ashore.

Both boys were diagnosed with hypothermia and flown to Tauranga Hospital for treatment.