Search efforts were continuing on Wednesday for a dog that went missing when a yacht capsized off Whananaki in Northland the previous afternoon.
Police were alerted to the incident near Elizabeth Reef at approximately 5:10pm. A police spokesperson confirmed that a dog had reportedly been aboard the vessel and had not yet been located.
Information circulating on social media identified the dog as a curly-coat retriever named Rimu, said to have been wearing an orange life jacket at the time of the capsize.
Paul Baragwanath had been watching the sea from his accommodation with his mother Barbara when the situation first caught their attention. "My mum was looking out at the sea and said the yacht shouldn't be out there - it was too windy," he said. Within moments, the yacht appeared to strike Elizabeth Reef and come to a sudden stop. Baragwanath rang police, and the vessel eventually worked itself free. Around five minutes later, the yacht began pitching heavily in the rough conditions before capsizing.
As the situation worsened, Baragwanath called police a second time and a police helicopter was dispatched. Before emergency services could reach the scene, a man in a small runabout headed out across open water toward the upturned yacht. "He's a very brave man because at any point his boat could have flipped," Baragwanath said. "I think he's a real hero."
Coastguard National Operations Centre confirmed it had received reports from members of the public about the capsized yacht. A spokesperson said the person aboard had been assisted by a nearby vessel, meaning Coastguard Tutukaka was not required to launch. The yacht's skipper was later assessed by ambulance on shore.
By Wednesday morning, the yacht remained upturned on Sandy Bay Beach. A Sandy Bay resident reported that a local man had used a drone to search the waters off every rocky headland between Woolleys Bay and Whananaki South, but found nothing. Others continued searching the beaches on foot.
