Rescue helicopter winches man from Piha rocks amid 3m swells - 1News

A man had to be winched from the rocks amid three-metre swells at Auckland's Piha this morning.

Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter crew were alerted to the incident about 7.30am.

"[The crew] were tasked to Piha by Maritime Police to assist with the search and rescue of a reported person in the water," a spokesperson for Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust said.

"Crew arrived to find a male patient in his 40s clinging on to rocks with a lifejacket with estimated three metre swells.

"He needed to be extracted by winch and was in a minor condition."

The man didn't need to be airlifted to hospital.

"Surf lifesaving assisted a further two persons in the water who were uninjured," the spokesperson said.

In a separate incident, Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter crew assisted after a crash in Port Waikato about 3am today.

A man was taken to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition.

"The ute he was in had rolled 300 metres down a bank and the patient was trapped," the spokesperson said.