A FINAL opportunity for media to capture images of New Zealand's Olympic rowers on Lake Karapiro before they headed to Beijing ended dramatically yesterday when their launch capsized, ruining thousands of dollars worth of camera gear.

The safety of seven people on board was not in jeopardy as they were wearing life jackets, but they were unable to prevent their equipment sinking to the bottom of the Waikato lake. The passengers and driver clung to the boat before being ferried to safety. Cameras belonging to TV New Zealand, TV3 and Prime were destroyed, while photographers also lost equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Rowing New Zealand communications manager Richard Gee said the launch started taking on water from the bow but had not been overloaded.

NZPA