Holiday turns sour for stolen yacht's owners

A mid-winter Cook Islands holiday has turned sour for the Christchurch owners of a stolen yacht that ran aground on the Marlborough coastline yesterday.

Their Wellington-based son contacted them on their holiday yesterday after seeing a television news item about the stranded yacht.

Bluff man John William Whatuira, 36, was to appear in Blenheim District Court today charged with unlawfully taking the vessel.

Blenheim police said today the 9m single-masted sloop Alida was stolen from its moorings at Charteris Bay in Lyttelton Harbour last Tuesday.

It turned up grounded at Ward, near the Ure River, yesterday morning when police received a call from the occupants of a plane who had seen a man waving to them from the stricken vessel.

Constable Al Hendrickson, of Blenheim police, said today police on their way to the site found the skipper making his way to the road. They suspected the yacht had been stolen.

Mr Hendrickson said the owner's son contacted police last night after recognising his mother's yacht on the TV news.

The Christchurch couple were "genuinely surprised" to learn their yacht had been stolen and run aground, he said.

Mr Hendrickson said the skipper had told police he had sailed about 100 nautical miles offshore but made little headway into the wind and had tacked back to shore.

Asked why he'd made a 100-mile tack, the man said he hadn't wanted to change the rig.

Mr Hendrickson said the man did not appear to be a very experienced sailor.

He had anchored offshore for the night on Monday and found himself aground when he woke up.

It was fortunate the yacht came ashore where it did because there were rocky outcrops either side of where it grounded on a pea-gravel beach.

Mr Hendrickson said the yacht appeared to be in good condition despite the grounding and had been towed further up the beach and out of danger.

"We're waiting to hear from the insurance company as to how we're going to get that thing out of there," Mr Hendrickson said.

When Whatuira failed to appear in Invercargill District Court yesterday a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was also due in Dunedin District Court today on a drink-driving charge.

- NZPA