Grave concerns are held for the welfare of a missing German man, who has not been heard from since he began a kayaking and fishing trip on Lake Hawea on Monday.
Friends reported him missing to Wanaka police at 9.30am yesterday.
Wanaka Land Search and Rescue chairman Roy Bailey was among the volunteers who found the 25-year-old man's kayak and paddle about 600m apart on the lake shore just before 1pm.
"I am not expecting a good resolution," Mr Bailey said last night.
"If there is one main safety message to come out of this, it is life jackets. It would appear - but we are not 100% certain - that he didn't have a life jacket on. The life jacket that goes with the boat he borrowed was still in the garage ... If you are in the [cold] water you have a really short survival time, even if you are wearing a life jacket," Mr Bailey said.
The man is believed to have lived in the district for about two months.
His name has not been released because family had to be contacted.
Mr Bailey said he did not know why the man had not been reported missing earlier.
He understood the alarm was raised yesterday morning after the man did not turn up for work on Tuesday night.
Wanaka police search and rescue co-ordinator Constable Emma Fleming said in a media release last night the man had contacted a friend, using a mobile phone, from his kayak on Lake Hawea about 12.25pm on Monday.
He had indicated he was going to paddle from Lake Hawea township to Timaru creek on the eastern shore of Lake Hawea, Const Fleming said.
Mr Bailey said searchers used a helicopter and two boats to search the lake. Volunteers also searched the shore by foot.
The kayak was seen from the helicopter, washed up on the beach near the Lake Hawea village, while the paddle was about 600m further to the east, he said.
Lake conditions on Monday were believed to be good.
Const Fleming said the search for the missing man would resume at dawn today.
