The mother of a 3-year-old girl who fell into water at Wynyard Quarter faces a year-long road to recovery after she smashed both feet jumping in to save her.

Two men who used a chilly bin to help them swim 2km to shore when their dinghy sank off last night say their "driving force" was their partners and young children.

Sixteen passengers and a Fullers crew member were injured when the vessel struck the wharf late this morning, crunching its bow and knocking people out of seats.

Two men used life-jackets and a chilly bin to help them swim 2 kilometres to shore when their dinghy sank off Papamoa Beach last night.

Jake Macpherson doesn't like the water - but that didn't stop him diving into the ocean to save the life of a stranger swept off rocks at a popular Northland beach.

A small dinghy used by a man who fell into the Whangarei Harbour and drowned has been discovered by police, tied to a buoy where the fisherman was last seen.

The captain of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia may remain a free man - for now - despite being found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Police divers searching for a woman who did not surface from a crayfish dive at the weekend have found a body.

A man was seriously injured in a boating accident south of Motuhie Island in the Hauraki Gulf this afternoon.

Four commissioners have been appointed to decide whether a resource consent should be granted allowing part of the Rena wreck to remain on Astrolabe Reef.

A mother and her son who were swept out to sea at a Hawkes Bay beach have been discharged from hospital and are back home recovering.

When Ian Waterson saw a mother and her child being swept out to sea he ran outside, jumped onto his 4WD farmbike and drove straight into the ocean.

Trouble has again hit the Melilla 201. It's been tied up at a Dunedin wharf for two years, and nearly ran aground as it tried to leave yesterday.

Queenstown's harbourmaster isn't impressed after four men he advised to get off their inflatable airbed floated under bungy jumpers - and were fined.

A veteran yachtsman spent two cold, wet hours perched on the mast of his heritage yacht after it hit rocks and sank in the middle of the night.

A man who attempted to swim across the Waikato River last night is presumed drowned, according to police.

A man was rescued off the Northland coast overnight after a yacht struck rocks and sank.

Family and friends of a young Chinese man who drowned in Northland on Christmas Day are campaigning for bilingual warning signs about deadly coastal rips.

Agony for family of missing swimmer Johnny Faitaua after body found in the water near Bethells Beach, west of Auckland.

Family of missing swimmer hold vigil at Auckland beach as rescuers search coastline.

A second search has been carried out at daybreak for a man missing off O'Neills Bay on Auckland's west coast.

Three exhausted Gisborne men are lucky to be alive after the boat they were in overturned and they spent three hours in the sea in Poverty Bay before a chance rescue by a passing vessel.

A Queenstown jet-boat operator says trying to find out how one of its boats hit a rock, injuring six tourists, is proving 'frustrating'.

A 57-year-old Auckland man who spent a night at sea with no life jacket, lights or radio after experiencing engine trouble is among a number of boaties chancing it on the water.

A 12-year-old girl remains in hospital following a jetboat crash near Queenstown yesterday.

A kayaker who found herself in trouble clung onto a buoy as her daughter made it to shore and raised the alarm.

The Coastguard and police are unimpressed with an ill-equipped boatie rescued today after going missing in a small boat.

It has been a tragic summer in New Zealand waters, with eight drownings since Christmas Day.

An up-and-coming sports star who drowned in a tragic paddle boarding accident in Coromandel has been remembered by her family as a "vibrant and energetic" girl.