Tragic accident blamed for yachtie's death

Tauranga Coastguard's rescue vessel and the sailboat it towed to Tauranga Marina after the discovery of a yachtie floating face down in the sea. Photo/Andrew Warner

A yachtsman was found floating face-down in the sea on the main shipping approach to Tauranga Harbour on Saturday.

Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner of Tauranga Police said people from another boat radioed Coastguard about finding an unoccupied yacht beside the Port of Tauranga's "A" buoy - the buoy ships steered for before entering the harbour.

He said Coastguard arrived soon after and found a man floating face-down in the water near the yacht. The young Coastguard staff pulled the man on board and applied CPR all the way back in until St John paramedics took over.

''It was excellent work by Coastguard but unfortunately, he was unable to be revived.''

Turner said it was up to the Coroner to rule on the cause of death, but to him, it looked like a tragic accident.

The body and the boat were both found by A buoy, with the discovery of the man unresponsive in the water reported to police at 3.20pm.

Turner said the man lived outside the Bay of Plenty but kept a boat in Tauranga. Police were still in the process of notifying the man's family and could not release his name.

The man had been sailing single-handed and was not wearing a lifejacket. Alcohol had not been a factor, Turner said.

Coastguard towed the white 8.8m sailboat back into port and tied up at the Tauranga Marina at the northern end of Sulphur Point. The body was removed from the area just before 5pm on Saturday.