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.

Police have named three people who have died in water-related accidents so far this holiday season.

Family members of a missing teenager were keeping an emotional vigil on a Northland beach last night - the latest incident in a horror start to the holiday season in the water.

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.

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.

Hang on! said Johan Groters as he floored the pedal and the twin V8 Lexus engines roared.The jet boat leaped out of the water and spun around a tree bobbing in the turbulent water.

Changes to the Southern Ocean's sea ice belt could mean see the global level rising several metres, says a new study which has shed more light on an ice-age mystery.

Labour Weekend marks the enforcement of a new bylaw making it compulsory to wear a lifejacket when on board a vessel 6m or under in length, unless the skipper of that vessel gives you permission not to.

Watercare has had to come clean after a whistleblower detailed the closure of two dams supplying Auckland's water for four months due to traces of herbicide.

Mark Ford, who has quietly and efficiently been responsible for ensuring Aucklanders have high-quality water and wastewater disposal, has lost a long battle with illness.

Watercare chairman David Clarke has paid tribute to the company’s former chief executive, Mark Ford, who died earlier today after serious illness.

Watercare Services has hit back at a developer who accused it of charging too much for Auckland residential subdivisions.

As $100 million of shiny new craft go on display at Auckland's On the Water Boat Show, the Hauraki Gulf has received a damning report about its health.