A handheld VHF radio, or even a cell phone in a plastic bag, would have avoided the drama of a rescue on Lake Rotorua last night, says Rotorua Coastguard president Neill McIntyre.
'It's a good reason to make sure you have got communications with you,” says Neil.

Rotorua Coastguard in action.

'If they'd had a cell phone we could have picked them up.”
Two men, aged 20 and 17, were on a jetski that broke down on the lake. The 20 year old swam ashore and raised the alarm at about 6.20pm.
A boat sent to pick up the jetski found the 17 year old missing. The Rotorua Lakes Coastguard was called to bring their 8m rescue boat to the search, and found the missing jetskier soon afterwards.

'Definitely for us the red life jacket was what led to a quick find,” says rescue boat skipper Elton Ngawhika.
'It was still daylight when we found him. The weather conditions were up to 15 knots, further out in the lake was a decent sized chop.”

He was found about 400m from the shore and about 5km for the jetski, says Elton.

'When we recovered the jetski it was the other side of the lake.”

It had a flat battery.

'We were rapt with the result, it was a bloody good one compared with what we have been dealing with lately.”

The 17 year old had been in the water for about an hour and was mildly hypothermic, says Elton.
Rotorua police say the rescue is a lesson in the benefits of wearing a life jacket.
'The guy that was missing was wearing a bright red lifejacket, which we can confidently say saved his life, because it kept him afloat and because of the colour he was picked up quite quickly be the coastguard boat,” says Detective Sergeant John Wilson.