A hypothermic man was taken to Dunedin Hospital after his dinghy overturned in Portobello Bay on Saturday afternoon, police say.
The man, aged in his 50s, was rowing out to his yacht, moored in lower Portobello Bay, when his dinghy was caught by a wind gust and overturned about 150m from shore.
He was pulled from the water 20 minutes later by a fisherman in a runabout, just as emergency services were heading for the scene, Senior Constable Lox Kellas, of Portobello, said.
Portobello resident Tom Churchill, who raised the alarm after watching from his window as the drama unfolded, said it was ''just lucky'' the outcome was not worse.
Mr Churchill was watching the man row to his boat when the gust of wind struck.
''If I hadn't have been watching you couldn't see him in the water without binoculars.''
Mr Churchill (68), a former firefighter, tried to launch his own runabout to rescue the man, but found it had no fuel, so he rang emergency services.
While he waited for them to arrive, Mr Churchill saw two kayakers on shore and asked one to paddle out to help the man.
The kayaker was able to support him until the fisherman arrived, he said.
Snr Const Kellas said the man, who was not wearing a life jacket, was ''pretty cold'' when rescued.
He was taken by ambulance to Dunedin Hospital and treated for hypothermia, Snr Const Kellas said.
