'Hi, coastguard? I seem to have run dry'

DAVID HALLETT/The Press

RUN AGROUND: Greg Broom calls for help after his yacht lost its mooring in Moncks Bay and was washed up on South Shore Spit yesterday.

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A Christchurch man watched a whirlpool rip his yacht from its Moncks Bay mooring early yesterday.

Greg Broom, of Sumner, thought he was the victim of a joke when told his yacht, the Noridiam, was being battered by swirling waters in the Avon-Heathcote Estuary.

He was forced to watch from the shore because it was too dangerous to approach.

"It was almost motoring up on to the mooring like it was under power that's how fast it was going against the tide," Broom said.

"It would fire straight ahead and kick around to 90 degrees like somebody was flicking it around in their hand. I wonder if anyone filmed it because you wouldn't believe it."

The yacht eventually ran aground at Southshore, allowing a salvage crew to refloat it.

A bent propeller and smashed tiller were a "good result", Broom said.

Meanwhile, forecasters say a brief respite in Canterbury's wild weather is the calm before this weekend's storm.

Clear skies are expected today, but rain, strong winds and snow are forecast for the South Island's east coast from tomorrow.

MetService forecaster Allister Gorman said snow could fall down to 400 metres.

Blue Skies Weather forecaster Tony Trewinnard said the prospect of a lingering storm was a concern.

"If it rains even steadily, rather than heavily, for four or five days, that accumulates to quite a lot of rainfall," he said.

Federated Farmers North Canterbury president Chris Sundstrum said farmers would welcome the rain, and snow in the Canterbury foothills was unlikely to endanger stock.

"Most of the stock is down off the high country now and as long as they're in the position where they can be fed if there is some snow, things should be fairly comfortable at this stage," he said.

Environment Canterbury flood controller Tony Boyle said yesterday's downpour was "average" southerly rainfall and not enough to cause serious flooding.

Police attended several minor crashes that could be attributed to wet weather, a spokesman said.