KEY POINTS:
Two yachtsmen and two fishermen have been winched to safety after rough seas in Northland saw the coastguard called out three times today.
The two yachties, aged 65 and 58, called the Bay of Islands Coastguard for help at 11.40pm yesterday after being caught in rough sea off Urupukapuka Island.
Northland emergency services were later called to deal with a fishing boat on rocks at Doubtless Bay and a second yacht in distress off the Cavalli Islands, both in the Far North.
Police said the yacht near Urupukapuka was anchored, but the two people were worried the anchor would not hold. One person was extremely seasick.
When the coastguard reached the yacht they could not get close enough to communicate with the people or help them because the sea was too rough, Northland police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said.
"The conditions made it too dangerous for the coastguard to stay near the yacht so they decided to take shelter around the island to wait for better light and conditions before rescuing the people on board."
When the coastguard returned to help the boat about 7am it had capsized and the two people, a husband and wife, were missing.
"Police search and rescue staff, Northland and Far North search and rescue volunteers and a specialist cliff rescue team were called to scour the island for signs of the missing couple."
The Northland Electricity rescue helicopter was also sent to the area. After two hours the couple was found on the island, winched into the helicopter and taken to Whangarei.
The rescued yachties "were cold and had scratches and bruises from scrambling up the rocks, but were otherwise well".
About 3.30am the coastguard got an emergency call from a 100-tonne fishing boat taking on water after its engines failed.
It had drifted onto Fair Way Reef at the south end of Doubtless Bay, northeast of Kaitaia.
A three-metre swell and gale force south easterly winds also prevented the coastguard reaching that stricken vessel.
When the rescue helicopter arrived, heavy rain, winds, the big swell and darkness made it too dangerous to rescue those on the boat.
As the helicopter waited at Taipa, 30km northeast of Kaitaia, for conditions to improve one of the boat's crew rowed a dinghy to another fishing boat.
At 7am conditions improved enough for the helicopter to winch the two remaining crew off the boat before it sank.
As that rescue ended, another emergency call was received at 9am from two people on 15-metre ketch off the Cavalli Islands.
The yacht's mast had broken and it had capsized.
The rescue helicopter was about to fly to the stricken yacht when another call came in to say the yacht had righted itself and the two people on board had cut the mast free.
They motored into Whangaroa Harbour, north of the Bay of Islands, accompanied by another boat.
- NZPA
