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Plans were being made today to recover a yacht abandoned by its crew off the west coast of the North Island last night.
In rising seas the four crew members set off their emergency locator beacon about 7pm when they had problems with their engine about 90 nautical miles west of Kaipara Harbour.
"They had problems with their motor, they couldn't get it going. They were also concerned about the state of the seas, it was fairly heavy seas. They were pretty uncomfortable," Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre spokesman Ross Henderson said.
Two rescue helicopters, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter from Auckland and the Northland Emergency Services Trust machine based in Whangarei, flew to the stricken yacht.
Mr Henderson said the Northland rescue helicopter winched the four crew members aboard and flew them back to Auckland.
"The yacht is obviously still out there so we put out a navigation warning.
"I imagine they will be making some plans to recover their yacht today," he said.
None of the four crew members was hurt, said Mr Henderson.
- NZPA
