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Three people were rescued from the semi-submerged hull of their boat off Auckland's North Shore late yesterday morning.
Mark Cannell, of the Westpac rescue helicopter, said they were spotted after a 20-minute search off Long Bay.
"I just saw a flash of something so I got the pilot to check it out and it was the boat we had been looking for," said Cannell.
"They were 5km away from where we thought because the initial report was wrong."
Senior lifesaver James Dench jumped from the helicopter to check on the trio - who were all wearing lifejackets - and waited with them until rescue boats arrived about noon.
Coastguard spokeswoman Stephanie Traill said the trio's problems started when a wave crashed over the boat's stern, causing the motor to fail.
When they moved to the back of the boat to fix the problem, the shift in weight caused the boat to take on water.
Meanwhile, hopes of finding a fisherman missing in the Hauraki Gulf were last night hampered by high tide.
A large air, sea and land search began yesterday after the 58-year-old's empty boat washed ashore at Kawakawa Bay in the Hauraki Gulf at about 2pm on Friday.
Search teams were to search the Kawakawa Bay shoreline today but Simpson said the chances of finding the man alive were not good.
- additional reporting NZPA
