Coastguard Hawke's Bay rocked by theft of search and rescue equipment

Coastguard Hawke's Bay skipper, Henry van Tuel is disappointed thieves have stolen important search and rescue equipment. Photo / File.

Thieves who stole thousands of dollars worth of important search and rescue equipment from Coastguard Hawke's Bay threw the boat's door in the sea before leaving.

The Coastguard first realised something was amiss when the crew were about to take off for their usual Sunday training session, skipper Henry van Tuel said.

They were called about a trespass notice the day before, but the boat had seemed secure at a first glance.

"Somebody I know rang me on Saturday and told me he had seen people jumping on our boat," van Tuel said.

The boat is covered by security cameras and van Tuel said the footage had captured a group of people entering the boat, taking items away and throwing door into the sea on Friday, January 18.

That footage is now with Hawke's Bay police.

The missing door, which sits on the back of the boat, helps keep the sea out of the cockpit.

"It makes it a bit awkward, because anytime we are working in rough weather, we've got a lot more water coming on board the boat than usual," van Tuel said.

A night vision monocular, image stabilised binocular and a hand held radio were among the items stolen.

"Not only that, they actually went inside the engine room in the boat and pulled some dipsticks out and thrown onto the bottom of the boat, so we are not sure if they've done something else in the engine compartment or not."

Van Tuel said the Coastguard reported the incident on Tuesday.

"It is just unfortunate we've got some people that saw an opportunity and decided to take some really critical equipment."

He is hopeful the items will be returned, but said if they could not be, the Coastguard would have to spend limited funds on new gear.

He said while some of the gear was old, including the night vision binoculars, it was of good quality.

Van Tuel said, despite the theft, they were still able to effective in their search and rescue missions, with older binoculars and spotlights.

"It just makes it a little bit more challenging for us than normal."