Sykes recounted the ordeal: “We were fishing away there for about 20 minutes [yesterday afternoon] and then I looked over and seen a little bit of smoke in the distance.
“I sort of thought, ‘Hmm, I wonder if someone’s having a big fire at Māhia. Then it got more smoky, so I got the binoculars out … and then I just seen the tip of his mast on the horizon and smoke straight behind it.
“I though, ‘Oh no, no no, something’s not right here’. Then I heard the helicopter, and that was it, man, rods up, I just decided that was it, we were off,” Sykes said.
The sea was rough as Sykes and his crew motored towards the burning wreck.
“Then, seeing the helicopter hovering and sort of circling around. We couldn’t figure out what was going on there, so we just keep pushing our way towards where the smoke was,” Sykes said.
“We got all the way out there and realised there were flames nearly as high as a house. It was pretty out of control,” he said.
Somebody in the helicopter pointed Sykes and his crew towards a liferaft floating nearby.
The crew pulled the man, who was in and out of consciousness, onto My Sexy Mistress.
“He was in shock. It was a bit of a scary ordeal all round for the three of us. It was a bit of a special moment, but was a bit scary at the same time,” Sykes said.
“We pulled his liferaft on and made our way back to Clifton Beach, where my trailer was, so we could get the helicopter to meet us there.”
Maritime NZ’s Rescue Co-ordination Centre was notified that an emergency beacon had been activated at 11.22am.
The boat was located about five nautical miles northeast of Cape Kidnappers.
The centre then requested maritime radio relay mayday broadcasts.
When the rescue helicopter arrived on scene, the crew spotted a liferaft with one person in it.
Coastguard Hawke’s Bay sent seven crew members to the fire.
“As the sailor was safe, we dealt with the fire. Although we managed to put the fire out, the boat was too badly damaged to enable a safe tow back to Napier. And leaving it afloat was not really an option.”
Sykes shied away from the word ‘hero’, saying he was just pleased he was out on the water when he was needed.
“The biggest thing I was concerned about at the time, I didn’t know how many people were going to be on board.”
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
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