They were able to arrive in the nick of time and avert an even worse tragedy only because the man who hired out the kayaks to the group had the presence of mind to phone the police and warn them that the weather was getting worse.
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Two tourists have died while kayaking in rough conditions on Lake Tekapo.
Mid-South Canterbury area Commander Inspector Dave Gaskin said that some of the nine rescued kayakers suffered from various degrees of hypothermia.
The easterly was estimated to have reached 20 knots.
The group, all wearing life-jackets, were kayaking around the lake unguided and had gone too far from shore.
“Some of them made it to an unoccupied island”.
He continued the nine were “lucky to be alive” and said the survivors were “obviously extremely distressed”. It says: “If the status is closed due to wind please understand that it is for safety reasons as the wind is a lot stronger on the lake and the waves the wind create can be deceiving when viewing from the beach”.
Lake Tekapo is in the Mackenzie District about 245 km south west of Christchurch.
A Timaru Hospital spokeswoman said three patients were in a stable condition in Timaru.
Hotel manager Rey Mendoza said he saw what appeared to be a body in a blue bag carried on a stretcher to an ambulance at the Tekapo Volunteer Fire Brigade station. Five ambulances were on the lakeshore and a helicopter was coming and going.
“It’s just been circling around with a big spotlight on and there was a boat out there going up and down in front of the island”.
Police said people got into trouble after a sudden change in the weather.
Aquanorts declined to comment at this stage.
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Mackenzie District Mayor Claire Barlow last night described the incident as “a awful tragedy”.
