Missing yacht could be sailing without skipper

Mariners have been warned the missing yacht Tafadzwa may be still be sailing but with no one at the helm, after it went missing on a voyage from Tauranga to Gisborne last week.

The search for the 11-metre steel yacht and its sole occupant Paul van Rensburg, 40, was called off last Thursday. He left Tauranga on March 12 to sail to Gisborne where he was due to begin a new job last Monday.

Maritime New Zealand has now warned mariners in the area between Tauranga and Gisborne, it was possible the yacht had its self-steering gear set and may be "continuing to sail not under command".

"All vessels are requested to keep a sharp lookout and report sightings," said Maritime New Zealand in the message on the VHF channel 16 emergency channel today.

The National Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington said today if the yacht was not under command that could be because Mr van Rensburg had fallen overboard, was sick or injured.

However, the centre's spokeswoman, Rosemary Neilson, told NZPA the warning did not mean they had any new information about what might have happened to Mr van Rensburg after the search was suspended on Thursday.

"It is a possibility but it is only one of a number of possibilities."

She said rescue authorities had no way of knowing what had happened to Mr van Rensburg.

"If there is a possibility of it, other vessels needed to be aware of it. It is a standard warning in this situation, it doesn't indicate anything is new."

The search for Tafadzwa and Mr van Rensburg was suspended after an air force Orion, another search plane and a helicopter covered 328,000 square kilometres of ocean in an extensive three-day search and found nothing.

The Rescue Centre said the Orion went up to nearly 800km out to sea and covered a huge area north and south of East Cape.

Search coordinator Dave Wilson said he was confident had the yacht been in the search area they would have found it.

He said searchers were disappointed not to have found the yacht but after such an extensive search there was nothing more they could do.

Mr van Rensburg was relocating to Gisborne to be closer to his girlfriend and his last contact was a cellphone call to her at 1.30pm on Friday.

- NZPA