A search and rescue operation was launched late last night after a fishing boat became stranded on a sand bar at Taieri Mouth.
Colin Webb was bringing the 10m boat Impact from Bluff to Port Chalmers when he hit the bar about 200m offshore about 8.15pm.
Several hours earlier, Mr Webb had run aground at Waikawa.
"He's an idiot and it's just such as waste of time, people and resources," Taieri Mouth SAR marine adviser Keith Simon said.
"He set off a flare horizontally, which almost hit a house. The next one went off in the boat.
"He had already been warned not to leave Bluff, but he carried on anyway. Apparently, the fishermen down there were running a sweep on whether he'd make it up here."
Mr Webb, who was not injured, was evacuated from the boat at 11pm by St Kilda and Brighton Surf Life Saving Clubs members in inflatable boats.
"I'm so embarrassed," a grateful Mr Webb told rescuers as he came ashore.
"A fire broke out in the engine and I lost concentration and hit the sand bar," he said.
The rescue was attended by two Brighton fire brigade units, two ambulances, three police units and St Kilda and Brighton Surf Life Saving inflatables.
The boat was expected to float free at first light today.
