A man was flown to hospital after being seriously injured in a water skiing accident at Taupo today.

An investigation into a Shotover Jet crash which left two people hospitalised has found the crash was down to driver error.

Auckland's volunteer surf lifeguards are raising their hands for help - up to eight facilities need improvement over the next decade, says Surf Life Saving Northern Region.

Strong winds have caused Interislander ferry Aratere to move around, causing damage to a loading ramp in Picton Harbour.

The Westport man who died while kayaking off Tauranga Bay last month has today been named by police.

Police are investigating the death of a 48-year-old kayaker found floating in the water at Tauranga Bay near Westport today.

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.

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.

Three years after he crashed the Costa Concordia, former captain Francesco Schettino will learn this week if he is to spend most of his remaining years in prison.

"Who would leave a boat on autopilot in a harbour packed with boats fishing?" Police confirm an investigation into a yacht that knocked a man unconscious.

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.

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.

Searchers looking for a missing swimmer at a West Auckland beach found a body yesterday morning.

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'.