Three men nearly took an unscheduled dip in Lake Wanaka on Saturday afternoon when their boat began taking in water.
Constable Martin Barham said the men, aged in their 50s, were travelling from the lakefront marina to Glendhu Bay about 2pm when the jet-boat's drive unit failed and the water intake stopped being properly expelled, causing the boat to fill rapidly with water.
"The water was coming on board at a rate and it was taking the boat lower in the water up to the topmost level of the hull," Const Barham said.
The men were about 500m from shore near Waterfall Creek when they phoned police for help.
Wanaka Lakeland Adventures operator Simon Stewart went to assist but the men had managed to make it safely to shore before the boat sank.
"If they hadn't have got to the side, yes they would have sunk and they would have had to swim ... they had a suitable amount of buoyancy aids."
The incident was reported to harbourmaster Marty Black.
