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.

Dakota Leef is 8 years old, and a hero. His story of bravery - running to get help for his stricken grandfather - has a sad ending...

A man is dead after going on a crayfishing trip in Akaroa Harbour.

New Zealand's maritime authority is investigating how shipping around our coasts can be made safer, after a high-level report into the Rena grounding.

The problem-riddled Interislander ferry Arahura will be retired from service and replaced next year, it has been announced.

The partner of a fisherman missing since he fell from an inflatable boat is still hopeful he will be found alive, despite it being four days since he was last seen.

Team Vestas Wind skipper Chris Nicholson says the decision to tell crew to abandon their Volvo Ocean Race yacht was the toughest of his life.

The skipper of the yacht with two Kiwi sailors on board that ran aground on a remote reef yesterday says the boat took a "massive pounding."

A search has resumed this morning for a missing fisherman who has not been seen since his boat capsized in an estuary north of Auckland on Saturday.

An exhausted Kiwi among the crew of a round-the-world racing yacht wrecked on a remote reef has told his family it was a miracle no one was hurt.

The police national dive squad will today search for a snorkeler who went missing from a Hawkes Bay beach.

New Zealand's Chinese community is outraged at a "lack of respect" shown to the wreck of a ship which sank more than 100 years ago with 499 Chinese bodies on board.

A boat which sank in Manukau Harbour last night, leaving two men struggling for their lives, had a hole and was not seaworthy, rescue services say.

A teenage girl swam ashore and ran 2km across a remote and rugged shoreline to call for help after the boat she was on capsized on the North Island's East Coast this morning.

The Interislander ferry Arahura is stranded in Wellington Harbour with 61 passengers aboard after losing power this morning.

The man who dove in to Tauranga Harbour to rescue an unconscious jetskier said it was a "no-brainer" decision to try to help him.

A daredevil jetski rider has a blood clot on the brain after his signature backflip went disastrously wrong as he was thrilling a big crowd at the Tauranga Boat Expo.

A body has been found near an area where police were searching for missing fisherman Nick Stubbs.

The search for a Warkworth fisherman who has been missing for more than a week is continuing.

A 91-year-old who lost control of a powerboat which collided with a rowing eight, putting pupils in hospital, says his age didn't factor into the 'freak accident'.

Senior students went to the rescue of an Otago Boys' High School rowing eight when their skiff was hit by a powerboat driven by their coach in Otago Harbour yesterday morning.

Authorities searching for fisherman Nick Stubbs were yesterday still unable to find any trace of him.