Heartbreak as search for missing yachtie and daughter heads north

The adoptive grandmother of Alan Langdon is heartbroken the Kawhia man and his 6-year-old daughter Que have not been heard from since launching a six-metre catamaran at Kawhia Wharf on December 17.

Mary Smith said she was not coping well with the possibility the sailing trip to the Bay of Islands could have ended in tragedy but said she was trying to stay positive.

"I'm not coping very well at all. I'm very sad, broken in fact."

Langdon and Que lived at Smith's "open home" in the tiny seaside village south of Raglan, where the 49-year-old stay-at-home dad built the catamaran on her front lawn.

Smith described Langdon as a competent boatsman who doted on his daughter.

"She was his best mate. He loved her to the max."

She said Langdon would do anything to protect Que, whose Swiss mother lived in Nelson but was currently in Switzerland on holiday.

Smith said she did not know if Ariane Langdon planned to return to Kawhia in light of the news but said it wouldn't be out of character for Langdon to be moored in a "black spot" somewhere without communication enjoying some fishing.

Before Langdon and Que set sail Smith slipped some Christmas presents and a letter into a bag for the pair and put it on board the white and blue catamaran.

"Hopefully they did open it on Christmas Day or whenever. It was just some clothes and lots of sweets of course which he doesn't like her to have too much of.

"We're hoping that they're safe and well. All we want is to hear from them, that they're ok. We can't do anything else."

Smith said sailing was the family's life and it was in the blood - Langdon's parents were also "sea people".

Langdon and his wife regularly sailed around New Zealand and the Pacific Islands according to Smith, before the couple separated.

"He knows the water. He's grown up on the water. Fished with his grandfather. Sailed the seas with his wife and daughter."

Langdon and Que had lived with Smith since the end of July after returning from overseas.

But Smith said the family had used her home as a base for years in between travels.

She described Que as a "beautiful" and "clever" child who was outgoing and well travelled.

"She's his best friend. He's a lovely father. He just talks to her, he doesn't growl or anything. And she gets on with everybody."

She said she "absolutely" loved Langdon and Que and would worry each time they left.

Smith and her cousin raised the alarm with the coastguard on Boxing Day, after Langdon and Que had been at sea without word for nine days.

"We must think positive."

An acquaintance of Langdon's, Ian Besley, said Langdon "owned the bar" at Kawhia Harbour he was such an experienced sailor.

Beasley said he was not concerned for Langdon because he had so much faith in his sailing abilities.

"I'm pretty sure he's just got no communications or doesn't want to communicate.

"Until the boat shows up I'm assuming he's just fishing somewhere. He would know how to live off the boat."

He said Que was "unnervingly confident" around the water.

Last year Langdon and his family had been in Port Vila in Vanuatu when Cyclone Pam struck.

Langdon's boat was damaged in the category five storm and Langdon reportedly rescued his daughter from the boat.

It's understood Langdon's father Walter and an uncle were also rescued from a boating mishap around 20 years ago.

At Walter and Kay Langdon's property just outside Kawhia sits the hull of an old catamaran.

The couple did not want to speak to the Herald.

Ali Moore, who went to school with Langdon and knows him by the nickname "Paddles", said Langdon regularly posted on Facebook but since he left there had been no word.

"I haven't seen any posts since he left. I just hope that he decided to go to Fiji."

She said Langdon was "laid back", but he loved his daughter and would not take any risks with her safety.

Langdon himself had suffered serious facial injuries in a car accident many years ago, Moore said, and he had battled ACC since.

"We're just all praying they're going to come home.

"It will be sad for the community if we don't find them or find out what's happened to them."

Sea mystery: Yachtie search moves north

Police are now searching shorelines north of Auckland for a yachtie and his 6-year-old daughter who have been missing for 11 days.

Alan Langdon, 49, and his daughter, Que, left Waikato's Kawhia Harbour for the Bay of Islands on a catamaran on December 17 and have not been seen or heard from since.

A family member posted on Facebook that the pair was heading to Paihia to visit friends for Christmas Day.

Local police are focusing on establishing the pair's whereabouts while the Auckland Maritime Unit is conducting searches of the shorelines north of Auckland.

"Mr Langdon is a very confident and competent sailor and there are no immediate concerns for his welfare, however police need to establish the welfare of Que and Mr Langdon."

Yesterday, a spotter plane searched the coastline between Mokau and Port Waikato and up to 6 nautical miles out for Langdon's catamaran but nothing was found.

Asked if police believed there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding their disappearance, a police spokeswoman yesterday said they had no further information to add.

Local marine contractor Alan Rutherford said sea conditions have been "pretty bad" over the last 10 days.

"It's a bit of a mystery ... If you were sailing in a little cat like that you'd want to know what you were doing."

Coastguard has asked for sightings of the catamaran with a sail ID number of T878.

The pair are travelling by catamaran to the Bay of Islands from Kawhia Harbour in the Waikato. Photo / Supplied via police

Langdon is believed to be estranged from his wife. It was reported yesterday she returned to her home country of Switzerland after their split last year.

In March last year, Langdon, his wife and Que were in Port Vila, Vanuatu when Cyclone Pam struck.

The category 5 severe tropical storm battered the island, claiming up to 16 lives and sinking at least 20 boats.

Friends today told the Herald the Langdons lost a boat in the storm and narrowly escaped with their lives.

"It got smashed to pieces and sunk," one friend said.

She said that Langdon held Que in his arms and got her safely to shore.

Another family friend, Mo Stafford, said Que had nearly drowned and that Langdon had saved her life.

"They were lucky," he said.

Another friend, Jane Anderson, said Langdon had often taken to the sea alone.

"But this time he has a little girl with him and it's very worrying. I can't believe he's disappeared," she said.

He is a well-respected member of the community, and Que is a "lovely" child, said Kit Jeffries, chairman of the Kawhia Community Board.

He said the Langdons were an old, well-known name in the area and had a long association with the sea.

Langdon's grandfather operated a fishing vessel out of Kawhia Harbour for many years.

News of the pair's disappearance was "very upsetting" for locals, he said.

Police urge anyone who has seen or had contact with them since December 17 to call their local police station.