Bluff Fishing Boat Disaster Sole Survivor - Current Affairs shoot. Camera/Editor

Recently I was commissioned to cover the tragic Bluff Fishing boat sinking near Stewart Island.
Sadly, eight souls have lost their lives but miraculously 44 year old Dallas Reedy of Invercargill survived 18 hours clinging to a fuel container in the frigid waters of Foveaux Strait.
He was finally plucked from the waters by a rescue boat that was doing a grid search for survivors. Dallas then spent the next 24 hours recovering in hospital.
I had the privilege, along with my reporter Adrian Stevanon of recording his arrival home to his family after his ordeal.
I can honestly say that in my 30 year career in the media, Dallas Reedy's story of his survival, his thoughts during those 18 hours lost at sea and his home coming is the most inspirational story I have ever shot!!
His humility, compassion for his lost friends, his love for life and his family had tears welling in my eyes most of the time I was recording his account of this terrible tragedy, now being referred to by some as the worst maritime disaster since the sinking of the Wahine.