Surfers saved after boat drifts

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A morning's surfing amid huge swells near Tauranga ended in a rescue for two men who were separated from their boat in the wild conditions.

The two surfers had anchored about 500m off Matakana Island - a popular surfing spot - to go riding 5m swells when emergency services were alerted to reports of an unmanned boat adrift in the rough sea.

A coastguard crew arrived soon after to find surfboard covers in the boat and then set off to find the surfers.

By the time the pair were found with their boards in a buoy line about 1km offshore, their boat had drifted more than 3km.

"We had a bit of trouble locating their vessel - the weather was quite rough out there, the winds were quite strong and there was an outgoing tide," said Tauranga Volunteer Coastguard operations manager Simon Barker.

Mr Barker said the surfers appeared to be in trouble and without the coastguard's help they would not have been able toreach their boat.

"Obviously it was a judgment call on their part, but certainly it was not the best conditions to go out, and there was an offshore wind as well."

The surfers were eventually reunited with their boat and escorted back to Mt Maunganui by the coastguard.

One of the surfers, who did not want to be named, told the Herald "a lot of anchor" had been rolled out when the boat began drifting.

"We were happy we found the boat. We would have been fine paddling back around in the end - we were both wearing thick wetsuits - but it was a good thing to find the boat again."

Despite the ordeal, he said the outing was worth it: "It was pretty stormy, but there were a couple of good waves."