Owner of beached launch fell asleep

Machinery attemps to salvage beached launch Paradise on Mt Maunganui beach. Photo / Alan Gibson

The owner of a luxury launch that spent two days beached at Mt Maunganui has admitted he made the devastating mistake of falling asleep before crashing into rocks.

Darryl Hodson was returning from a 10-month cruising trip in Fiji on Tuesday night when he crashed near Rabbit Island.

The Tauranga man today had to watch painfully as his 53-foot launch was broken into pieces so it could be moved to dry land.

Mr Hodson says he's $650,000 out of pocket and it's a big misfortune.

He said he's unsure where to go from here as his insurance won't cover him because he was returning from an overseas stint.

- Newstalk ZB