Overdue yacht alert

An alert is out for an 8m sloop overdue by three days on its way to Nelson from Queensland, Maritime New Zealand said.

The Beastie is crewed by a father and son. It was expected on Tuesday, but spokeswoman Julia Lang said that, looking at weather patterns, it wasn't surprising the boat hadn't arrived yet.

"They had to go 1080 miles, and there've been periods of hardly any wind and periods of strong winds. It's an uncertain phase at the moment."