The body of a dead man clutching a lifejacket washed ashore early this morning in the Whangarei Harbour.

A desperate plea by 15 bystanders for passing jetboats to rescue a 30-year-old struggling in the chilly waters of the Hokitika Gorge were ignored by the boaties.

A 70-year-old Auckland man participating in a sailing regatta north of Wellington was wearing a lifejacket that wasn’t inflated when he died.

Mission Bay Reserve is one of Auckland's most popular summer evening spots. So why are the men's loos allowed to get so filthy?

A state-of-the-art $2.5 million vessel is set to make a marked difference in the way water rescues are carried out.

At the moment, there is more water leaving the water treatment plants than there is entering the wastewater treatment plants, because of the dry spell, writes Phoebe Falconer.

Taps ran dry in Martinborough last Friday after water reservoirs ran out and an alarm supposed to alert the council when supply is low, failed to go off.

A shark hooked by a fisherman that "tail-walked" before breaking free may well have been a great white, a passing charter skipper says.

Caughey, one of the more anonymous Kiwi winners of a world title in 2014, claimed the world jetsprint championship after the series concluded in Oregon in September.

A former South Auckland man has described watching his friend escape from the jaws of a great white shark while surfing in California.

Family tells how their holiday sightseeing trip turned into rescue operation after spotting stricken men in the water: "You just think about trying to find the next person."

An Auckland police constable stripped off his police uniform and dove into the sea to apprehend a man making off in a stolen row boat yesterday.

Partygoers will be swapping their sunglasses and sunblock for umbrellas and rain jackets to see in the New Year as the brilliant weather that has brightened the holidays looks set to pass.

Fast water on Amsterdam's Bosbaan helped the women's four beat the eight-year-old world-best time by more than 10 seconds in 6:14.36 at the world championships.

They had sailed from New Zealand in 2002 and were two years into their adventure when they moored in a bay off Phuket in Thailand for Christmas.

Two launches collided in Whangarei Harbour last night, leaving them both significantly damaged.

Mighty River Power and the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board have signed a deal over water in Lake Taupo, the terms of which the electricity generator says are confidential.

Fourteen per cent of monitored beaches in New Zealand are classified as "high risk" for water quality issues.

A fisherman who was swept 200m out to sea after he slipped and his waders filled up with water, had a lucky escape, says a man who helped get him on to dry land.

Champion wakeboarder Brad Smeele will tonight make a rare trip out from his care unit where he has been since returning home to Auckland in October after a crash left him a quadriplegic.

Shark cage divers and parasailers should be safer under new voluntary guidelines for avoiding risks in the water tourism sector.

Dutch researchers have claimed it's possible three inmates who escaped from Alcatraz in 1962 could have survived - but only if their timing was perfect.

Radiant summer weather made a brief call to the North Island at the weekend, attracting hardy bathers into the still-cool water at beaches and creating a run on icecream.

Kayaker Jamie Slessor-White may be a bit better than your average weekend warrior but most of his focus at this weekend's Blue Lakes 2 Canoe Racing Regatta will be on those around him.

New Zealand's wealthiest man, Graeme Hart, has just finalised plans for another superyacht to add to his collection.