Inexperience, too much weight at the back of the boat and an anchor tied to the stern.

Those were the three ingredients for near disaster at sea on Tuesday, according to rescuer, Stefan White. But a case of mistaken identity was a lifesaver.

Stefan, a keen boatie and owner of White Builders at Mount Maunganui, says it was flat calm conditions on Tauranga, perfect for a fish.

He and a mate Isaac D'Aubney had been heading out in Stefan's boat, ‘Don't Ask' and were near Karewa Island, when they spotted another boat Stefan thought he recognised.

On closer inspection it turned out to be mistaken identity, but Stefan noticed it was sitting low in the water.

'Something's up,” Stefan told his fishing buddy.

They approached the other boat, with three big men aboard, and asked if everything was alright.

'You boys all good?”

'They replied ‘yeah' but the next minute they were bucketing water.”

Stefan whipped out a phone and starting filming, as they stayed close to assist.

'They were all on the back, in the same corner. The anchor was tied at the stern. A little chop ran up and it went straight down.”

The boat sank quickly and turned over, with just the bow above the water.

Stefan says none of the occupants had lifejackets, they couldn't swim and were wearing gumboots.

Stefan's boat 'Don't Ask'.

The lads on ‘Don't Ask' threw their own lifejackets to the three in the water but the three were unable to even swim far enough to reach them.

'I was about to jump in and help, then thought, no.”

Stefan used a gaff to pull them closer. Two were hanging off the back of the boat and another was clinging to a rope hanging from the bow of the sunken boat.

He says they are 'big boys” and struggled to climb from the water.

'It would have taken 15 or 20 minutes to finally get them all on board. They were throwing off clothes to try to get on.”

Eventually with the three safely on ‘Don't Ask', they headed for harbour. Stefan said they were unable to do anything with the sinking vessel, as his boat was well laden with three extra big lads on board.

'We just boosted back.”

Tauranga Coastguard was alerted but the rescue boat crew stood down once it was known all occupants were safely picked up.

On the way to harbour, ‘Don't Ask' came across a big boil-up of fish on the surface.

Stefan asked his passengers if they'd like a kahawai to take home, since they hadn't caught any fish.

They threw out some lures and picked up three fish for their passengers. They were then safely delivered back to Sulphur Point, with dinner.

Stefan says the three from the sunken boat seemed very inexperienced. That, combined with a lot of weight in the stern of a small boat, plus the anchor being tied at the back, was their downfall.

'And no lifejackets.”

Stefan says the accurate story needs to be told because there's many lessons to be learnt.

Three families are no doubt thankful that Stefan and his mate just happened to be in the right place at the right time.