On a beach to nowhere

A large white luxury fishing boat captured the attention of holidaymakers after it was beached at Whangamata Harbour on Friday.

Holidaymaker Lianne Thomas, who snapped a picture and sent it to the Herald, believed the boat was beached when the tide went out in the early afternoon.

"I don't know the details ... it is bound to be related to the tide as it gets very shallow at the boat ramp and normally boats that size would come and go via the marina further on past the ramp," said Ms Thomas, an Auckland real estate agent.

Henry Matangi, who was there shortly after the boat washed up on the shore, said he understood the boat was "moving too slow".

"It was making its way down the entrance of the marina when it turned around to avoid collision with another boat," Mr Matangi said.

"But then it wasn't going fast enough, the tide went out and that's how the boat got grounded."

A local hospitality worker said boats were sometimes beached intentionally at the harbour.

"It's not unusual for them to be beached, especially if there's something that needs to be fixed," he said. "They go out when the tide comes in."