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.

Police have confirmed a body pulled from the water off an Auckland beach on Monday was that of missing swimmer, 24-year-old Johnny Perese Faitaua.

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.

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.

A 15-year-old girl has drowned after her paddleboard was swept under a boat by a strong current and wind at Whangamata this afternoon.

Off-duty lifeguards have saved two teenage girls caught in a rip and screaming for help.

Fears are growing for the lives of eight crewmen after a cargo ship overturned off the north coast of Scotland.

The family of a New Zealander who died trying to save a dive boat during a storm is travelling to the California island he called home.

Three boaties have been rescued after their vessel capsized crossing the notorious Kawhia bar in Waikato.

They died together and now two men caught up in a tragic boating accident in the Manukau Harbour this week will be farewelled together.

A surfer who died at a beach on Boxing Day has been described as an "inspiration" to other divers in his dive club.

The woman, in her 20s, fell down a steep cliff and into the river below, striking her head on the way down.

A man who died at a south Auckland beach yesterday was trying out a new surf board he received as a Christmas present.

A 25-year-old Auckland man drowned at Uretiti Beach, near Ruakaka in Northland yesterday, while setting a crab pot.

As thousands of holidaymakers get set to hit the beach and boaties prepare to launch, warnings are being issued about staying safe.