Cops go to the rescue in kayak

Police borrowed a kayak to rescue a drunk woman who fell into the harbour and had taken refuge on the back of a moored boat.

Tauranga Police Senior Sergeant Mark Holmes said the woman fell into the water near the Chapel St service station on Saturday morning and could not climb out.

It is believed she could have been stranded on the back of the boat for several hours.

"She may well have fallen down there when she was heading home from town," he said.

An officer borrowed a kayak from the nearby Hunting and Fishing store and paddled out to get her.

Mr Holmes said she was taken to the accident and emergency centre to be treated for mild hypothermia.

Hunting and Fishing staff member John Chaplain said they knew nothing of it until police arrived and asked to borrow a kayak about 10am.

He said she must have fallen in during the night.

"She was sitting on the duckboard on one of the boats out there," he said. "She'd fallen down the side of the rock face and cut herself up."

Mr Chaplain said the woman was on a boat about 50 metres from shore and could not get back in.