Lifejackets have helped save the lives of two young Tauranga men after their tandem kayak capsized during a late night fishing expedition in the harbour.

Daniel Penwarden, 21, and Edwin O'Dea, 23, launched from Kulim Park at 6.30pm on Tuesday but hours later, trouble struck.

Daniel Penwarden and Edwin O'Dea in the tandem kayak after their naked ordeal on Tuesday night.

The pair had been fishing near Hunters Creek and after reeling in some large snapper, decided to set off for another marker closer to the channel.

'(The) current was pretty strong, as I tried up to hook up to the marker with the kayak on a lean the compartment that keeps everything dry opened and we started taking on water,” says Daniel.

'The boat started sinking and we flipped over in the channel.”

The pair were forced to abandon the kayak, shed their clothing and swim naked towards Matakana Island in search of help.

'Edwin was in the water with his swanndri on sinking so we were forced to take all our clothes off and put our lifejackets on. Edwin got his gear off while I held on to him and then he held on to me.”

The men attempted to ring for help off Edwin's iPhone, which was in a waterproof case, before swimming 45 minutes against the current to reach Matakana Island.

Running along the beach wearing nothing but their lifejackets and a headlight, the men spotted a 50foot catamaran from the jetty.

'We saw the boat in the entrance and ran towards it yelling for help. Luckily there was a guy (Paul) on board and he came to help us out in his dingy.

'We started rowing back to the massive yacht. But Paul forgot to put the bung in so we started sinking again and drifting away from the boat. Paul had to row like he had never rowed before as we finally fought the current and ended up safely back on the yacht.”

Once on board the yacht, Coastguard was alerted but it was decided the men would spend the rest of the night on the boat and be dropped off in Pilot Bay yesterday morning.

Looking back on the ordeal, Daniel is thankful they had their lifejackets in the kayak because without them 'they could have ended up anywhere”.

'If we didn't have them it would have been a different story. It would have been pretty hard out there and we would have had to float on our backs for hours.”

Yesterday afternoon the kayak, two oars and a fishing rod were recovered by the Harbourmaster after the equipment was spotted by a passing boat.

Maritime operations manager Ruben Fraser says they retrieved the kayak about 1pm after receiving a call from the Coastguard.

'It was up towards the other end of Matakana Island. A little two foot shark, either a blue shark or mako, was circling the kayak as there was still some bait in it.”