Police have confirmed the man who died when a 12-foot boat flipped at Mahia, north of Wairoa on the East Coast, this morning was a 57-year-old local.

School friends of Nick Stubbs say they'll keep searching the sea everyday until they find their mate.

When Nick Stubbs and a mate left Martins Bay near Warkworth in a red fibreglass boat at 5pm on Tuesday, he told loved ones they 'wouldn't be long'.

The search for a second fishermen lost at sea off the coast of Martins Bay north of Auckland continued this afternoon after one body was located.

A 38-year-old man suffered an electric shock after the mast of a boat struck power lines at the Outward Bound School in Marlborough this afternoon.

Surf lifesavers trying to find the body of missing boy Jack Dixon will decide whether to continue their search on Friday.

The director of charter company Dive Spot has pleaded not guilty on charges laid after a boat propeller killed an Auckland man.

A fisherman missing on the Tauranga Harbour since midnight last night has been found after making his way to shore.

"I was told I wouldn't get those sensations back." Gaining some feeling in his lower body has given quadriplegic Kiwi wakeboarder Brad Smeele hope.

Kiwi wakeboarder Brad Smeele has taken a "huge step" in his recovery, after being rendered quadriplegic in a devastating accident in the United States.

Local boaties came to the assistance of four paua divers when their boat overturned in strong wind gusts yesterday.

As the stricken Costa Concordia limped its way towards Genoa last week, Italy was remembering the 32 people who lost their lives in the cruise ship disaster.

The Green Party announced plans to immediately ban deep sea drilling around NZ’s coast if the Greens form the next government.

Italy's Costa Concordia cruise ship has floated for the first time since it crashed in 2012, its rust-coloured hull emerging from the waves off Giglio.

Anti-oil exploration protesters have put up banners in Wellington ahead of the National Party's Annual Conference.

A former Mount Maunganui lifeguard has been hailed as a hero after he helped to save the life of a toddler found face-down in the ocean in the UK.

A kayaker paddling from Australia to New Zealand is making headway again after running dangerously low on supplies and hunkering down in bad weather.

An urgent aid mission will get underway today to drop vital supplies to a kayaker attempting a solo trip across the Tasman Sea.

Five men had a lucky escape when the dinghy they were in capsized on the Waikato river.

Danielle Wright's last words to her parents were "bye, see you in three months". But she would never see them again, and a year later mystery surrounds her final days.

The sole survivor of the Easy Rider fishing boat tragedy that killed eight people pleaded with a judge to be merciful during a company owner's sentencing today.