A Queenstown jet-boat operator says trying to find out how one of its boats hit a rock, injuring six tourists, is proving 'frustrating'.

A 57-year-old Auckland man who spent a night at sea with no life jacket, lights or radio after experiencing engine trouble is among a number of boaties chancing it on the water.

A 12-year-old girl remains in hospital following a jetboat crash near Queenstown yesterday.

A kayaker who found herself in trouble clung onto a buoy as her daughter made it to shore and raised the alarm.

The Coastguard and police are unimpressed with an ill-equipped boatie rescued today after going missing in a small boat.

It has been a tragic summer in New Zealand waters, with eight drownings since Christmas Day.

An up-and-coming sports star who drowned in a tragic paddle boarding accident in Coromandel has been remembered by her family as a "vibrant and energetic" girl.

Three fishermen huddled together in the water for eight hours last night after their boat overturned near the Firth of Thames.

A 15-year-old girl has drowned after her paddleboard was swept under a boat by a strong current and wind at Whangamata this afternoon.

The family of a New Zealander who died trying to save a dive boat during a storm is travelling to the California island he called home.

Three boaties have been rescued after their vessel capsized crossing the notorious Kawhia bar in Waikato.

They died together and now two men caught up in a tragic boating accident in the Manukau Harbour this week will be farewelled together.

A surfer who died at a beach on Boxing Day has been described as an "inspiration" to other divers in his dive club.

The woman, in her 20s, fell down a steep cliff and into the river below, striking her head on the way down.

A man who died at a south Auckland beach yesterday was trying out a new surf board he received as a Christmas present.

A 25-year-old Auckland man drowned at Uretiti Beach, near Ruakaka in Northland yesterday, while setting a crab pot.

As thousands of holidaymakers get set to hit the beach and boaties prepare to launch, warnings are being issued about staying safe.

New Zealand's maritime authority is investigating how shipping around our coasts can be made safer, after a high-level report into the Rena grounding.

The problem-riddled Interislander ferry Arahura will be retired from service and replaced next year, it has been announced.

A fisherman's body was found in the waters of Auckland's Hauraki Gulf last night by a passing cruise ship.

The body of missing fisherman Maxium Efremychev has been found off Omaha Beach.

The partner of a fisherman missing since he fell from an inflatable boat is still hopeful he will be found alive, despite it being four days since he was last seen.

Team Vestas Wind skipper Chris Nicholson says the decision to tell crew to abandon their Volvo Ocean Race yacht was the toughest of his life.

The skipper of the yacht with two Kiwi sailors on board that ran aground on a remote reef yesterday says the boat took a "massive pounding."

A search has resumed this morning for a missing fisherman who has not been seen since his boat capsized in an estuary north of Auckland on Saturday.

An exhausted Kiwi among the crew of a round-the-world racing yacht wrecked on a remote reef has told his family it was a miracle no one was hurt.

The police national dive squad will today search for a snorkeler who went missing from a Hawkes Bay beach.

New Zealand's Chinese community is outraged at a "lack of respect" shown to the wreck of a ship which sank more than 100 years ago with 499 Chinese bodies on board.