Yachtie missing after storm blasted East Coast

The hunt for a yachtie missing off the East Cape will resume at first light tomorrow after a third day of searching failed to find any sign of him.

Paul Van Rensburg has not been sighted since leaving Tauranga in his 11-metre yacht Tafadzwa heeaded for Gisborne on Friday.

The alarm was raised by his partner after he failed to arrive at the East Coast resort by Monday.

This afternoon a twin-engined PA31 joined a P3 Orion, which had been searching for the yacht since Monday.

"We've got two excellent search assets out there and they are systematically working through the search plans that we've developed for them," mission coordinator Keith Allen said.

The steel-hulled sloop made an excellent target to find with the aeroplanes' radar, and Mr Van Rensberg was experienced sailor, Mr Allen said.

Mr Van Rensburg, 40, has so far failed to answer VHF radio calls but that could be because he was out of range or he may not have his radio turned on.

Mr Allen said the experienced yachtie may also have under-estimated how much time it would take to get to Gisborne.

He sailed to New Zealand from South Africa in 2006, and works for an engineering firm.

His yacht was usually moored at Tauranga, but he was understood to be moving it to Gisborne, where his girlfriend is based.

Veteran Gisborne sailor Bill Thorpe said Mr Van Rensburg could be sheltering in a bay somewhere around the East Cape.

The trip usually took 32 to 36 hours, and plenty of people had done it solo before - though conditions could get very rough, Mr Thorpe said.

- NZPA