KEY POINTS:
A German couple who leapt into the water from their burning, $350,000 cruising yacht last month, have gone home with nothing.
Christa and Sigi Haimerl returned to Germany with only few possessions after a suspected gas leak turned their 16-metre steel cruising yacht into an inferno at Mahurangi, north of Auckland.
The couple leapt over the side and were rescued from the water by a boatie as the yacht was engulfed by flames in the March 29 incident.
The boat was not insured.
"The owners put their hands up in the air and said 'We don't want the boat, we just want to get back to Germany'," said Mahurangi boat builder Conrad Robertson.
Mr Robertson took over the boat after he was asked by the owners and police to salvage it to stop it sinking at the entrance to Mahurangi Harbour.
Mr Robertson had since sold the burnt-out hull for about $10,000 but said the sale had not covered his costs of salvaging the wreck.
The yacht would be rebuilt by the new owner.
Mr Robertson said a lot of foreign cruising yachts were not insured when they arrived in New Zealand and the owners knew the risk they were taking.
- NZPA
