After hours clinging to a capsized boat in a chilly sea, Howard Reese told his crayfishing buddy, “I can’t take any more of this. I’m too cold. I’ve had it.” 

When a wave threw them both off the boat a short time later, his friend, the boat’s skipper, swam back to the overturned vessel. 

But Reese, 78, remained in the water. He did not lift his arms. He floated on his back and drifted away. 

The skipper was later rescued, still holding onto the 4.5m aluminium boat, incoherent but alive. 

He had been in the cold water for about six hours. 

Reese was found almost 90 minutes later by the crew of another boat, who had been searching for him. 

A helicopter winched a medic down onto that boat, who verified that Reese had died. 

A coroner’s report released today has found that Reese died from drowning at sea near Pania Reef, off Napier, last October. 

The indicator marks where the boat capsized over Pania Reef last October. The red-bordered area marks a rahui placed over the area by iwi in the following days. Photo / NZ Police 

After reviewing the evidence in Reese’s case, Coroner Ruth Thomas recommended that boaties should carry their communication devices on their persons, not just on the boat. 

She had been told that, while the two men were holding onto the hull, they could hear their phones ringing while stored in waterproof bags on the boat, but could not reach them. 

Friends had fished together for 45 years 

According to the findings, Reese and his friend had been fishing and crayfishing together for about 45 years. On October 19 last year, they put out their cray pots on their first trip out for the summer season. 

Early in the morning on October 21, they both checked the weather conditions from the shore and, despite strong winds being forecast all day, decided to take advantage of a lull to head out about 7.35am. 

When they left the Napier Sailing Club ramp, the sea state was moderate, but the skipper said there was no wind. 

However, weather data from Napier Port and the MetService said that, about the time the men left shore, the winds were averaging 17 knots (31km/h), gusting to 22 knots. 

Around the time of the capsize, the wind had risen to an average of 20 knots, gusting to 27. 

Wave heights were an average of 0.5m, peaking at 1.1m. 

The sea temperature was 14C. Anything lower than 15C is defined as cold water, which can affect breathing and movement. 

Both men were wearing lifejackets and had taken their cellphones, but they were without a personal locator beacon as the skipper had lent the one he usually carried to a family member. 

They put their car keys and phones in waterproof bags in the bow of the boat. 

The fishermen were in position over their cray pots about 2km from shore by 8.15am. They pulled up two pots, rebaited them and put them back. 

As they tried to retrieve the third, a cray pot rope became entangled with the boat’s propeller and, while the pair were cutting it away, the sea swell was increasing. 

Waves started coming into the stern, eventually filling it with water and flipping it over. 

Both men held onto the upturned boat. They managed to drop an anchor, and the entangled cray pot rope also helped to hold them in position. 

Reese was initially fully immersed. His friend, who was standing on the motor and in water from the waist down, helped him onto the top of the boat and held onto him by his belt. 

“They remained in this position for hours,” Coroner Thomas said. 

“At one point, Mr Reese said to his friend, ‘I can’t take any more of this. I’m too cold. I’ve had it.’” 

After a wave washed them off the boat, the friend could see Reese drifting away but could not tell whether or not he was conscious. 

Search organised for missing men 

Reese’s wife, Anne, had become concerned when the men had not returned to shore. 

She phoned her husband, but the calls went to voicemail. 

She drove to the Napier Coastguard base, but no volunteers were there on a Tuesday. At 1.38pm, about six hours after the fishermen had set out, she called 111. 

A search was organised, and the boat’s skipper was rescued at 2.55pm. 

One of the boats involved in the search spotted a person wearing a lifejacket in the water southeast of Pania Reef at 4.22pm. 

“The crew members got him onto their vessel, a rescue helicopter winched a medic aboard, and the medic verified that Mr Reese was deceased,” the coroner said. 

A medic is lowered to the boat that recovered Howard Reese from the water off Napier on October 21 last year. The medic verified that he was dead. Photo / Napier Coastguard 

The contributing factors to Reese’s death were the rope entangling the propeller, deteriorating weather conditions, phones being carried on the boat but not by the men on their persons, and the lack of a locator beacon. 

“I am satisfied that had [the skipper] or Mr Reese had a personal locator beacon secured onto their lifejacket or a cellphone secured on them in a dry bag, Mr Reese’s death may have been prevented,” she said. 

She made a recommendation that Maritime New Zealand and the Safer Boating Forum update their public safety messaging to “emphasise the importance of the waterproof communication device or the PLB [personal locator beacon] being worn by the person, rather than being stored on the vessel”. 

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay.