The right safety equipment, life jackets and swimming lessons for the children contributed to the survival of a Papakaio family after the cabin cruiser they had not long bought sank at Lake Benmore on Sunday.
Chris Boys, partner Joanne Turner and children Holly (8) and Alex (12) were out on their first excursion on Lake Benmore in their Campion 797 Victoria 8m launch when the inboard motor cut out shortly after leaving Sailors Cutting.
Things went downhill from there, and about an hour later they were forced to abandon the boat before floating and wading to land along the sand bar at the outlet to the Otamatapaio River.
They came ashore very cold and walked to a hut, where they were treated by emergency services.
Both children had yesterday off school to recuperate.
Mr Boys told the Otago Daily Times he bought the boat about three weeks ago, after giving it a sea trial at Picton before towing it home to Papakaio.
When they cruised out of Sailors Cutting about 11am on Sunday, the Ahuriri Arm was ''not that bad''.
However, after the engine cut out, the wind increased from the west, although he said conditions were not as rough as when he trialled the boat at Picton and he would have been comfortable using his previous boat, a smaller 5m Fi-Glass Dominator.
After the motor stopped, he lifted the engine cover and saw water coming in the bilge. He started the auxiliary motor, but it kept cutting out and eventually the fuel line broke.
During that time, the boat continued to take on water and drifted east, until it was about 400m to 500m from the shore.
As water continued to come in and the boat started to tilt, the family made the decision to swim ashore.
Mr Boys had put his cellphone and car keys in a waterproof container and all four had life jackets.
''I thought, `that's it, we're out of here', and we jumped out,'' Mr Boys said.
The children had had swimming lessons, which gave them confidence and, while Holly was a bit tentative at first, her confidence grew shortly after going into the water. They floated towards the shore and then found they could stand on the sandbar.
About 1pm, Mr Boys had dialled 111 and police, search and rescue and emergency services turned out, but they were stood down after the family made it ashore.
Mr Boys said the adventure was ''just the experience we did not need. It's something you never plan for, but it shows it can happen and you need to be prepared, no matter what the conditions.''
The boat was to be their holiday home-caravan on the water, with all the facilities needed to live on board.
Mr Boys was not certain what would happen until after the insurance assessor, whom he notified yesterday, had inspected the boat, which ended up on the sandbar.
