KEY POINTS:
The man who survived a boating accident on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf on Sunday was back on the water today helping search for his missing friend.
The man boarded a police boat to go back to the area in the Hauraki Gulf near Browns Island where his friend Mike Innes Shaw, 49, from Ramarama, South Auckland, disappeared on Sunday.
The man - in his 30s - spent up to five hours trying to swim for help after his boat capsized and he became separated from Mr Shaw. He was rescued yesterday morning after spending a cold night on Browns Island.
The two men had been fishing and were making their way home when their 5m fibreglass boat was hit by a wave and started to sink, about an hour before sunset.
Mr Shaw was last seen wearing jeans and an oilskin under an orange lifejacket.
Sergeant Craig Kennedy said the survivor was taken out on a police boat to join the search for him.
"We have taken him out to try and pinpoint some more areas if possible."
He said the police helicopter Eagle would be used again today.
"We have located nothing at all from the sunken vessel."
Mr Kennedy said the water was at its coldest after winter - a little above 12 degrees - and if the man was still in the water his survival time would be less than 10 hours.
He said the survivor was distraught but there was probably now a very slim chance of finding Mr Shaw alive.
Mr Kennedy said debris that had been found had not come from the sunken belt.
Island rescue
Yesterday, Sergeant Craig Kennedy said both of the men were wearing lifejackets and decided to try to swim to safety but became separated in the darkness.
Mr Kennedy said the rescued man thought he was in the water for four or five hours before reaching the island, where he spent the remainder of the night dozing. Yesterday morning he stood on the shore and yelled and waved frantically at a passing kayak for help.
Mr Kennedy said the kayaker did not have a cellphone so it took some time to get back to the mainland and raise the alarm.
No one else knew the men had failed to return home the previous evening. Rescue services found the man cold and shocked but unharmed. The search was launched for his friend but despite ideal conditions - clear skies and a calm sea - no sign was found of the man, his lifejacket or any remains of the boat and fishing gear.
The rescued man did not require any medical treatment was yesterday recovering at his home in rural South Auckland.
Mr Kennedy said the missing man had a fiancee but police were reluctant to release any more information about him at this stage. The search for him was expected to be scaled down today if nothing was found.
Boaties heading out on the water have been asked to keep an eye out for the missing man or any sign of debris that might have come from the fishing boat.
