A Blenheim man has appeared in court after allegedly throwing a man from a yacht in the Marlborough Sounds.

The incident sparked a two-hour manhunt involving maritime police and the armed offenders squad.

Jonathan Paul Lonie, 53, appeared in the Blenheim District Court today on charges of wounding and threatening to kill.

No judge was available for the hearing, so he appeared before two justices of the peace and was remanded by consent in custody.

Lonie will reappear in court on Monday.

A Nelson man yesterday told police he had been assaulted, stabbed and thrown from a yacht in Queen Charlotte Sound on Tuesday night.

Sergeant Kris Payne said the man claimed he had been visiting Picton and met a man who invited him on to his yacht.

The man had allegedly been thrown overboard and had swum to shore, where he spent the night in bushes.

He had walked to Lochmara Lodge in Lochmara Bay yesterday morning.

The man told police he had been assaulted and attacked with a knife and a wood saw.

He had cuts to his hand, body and face, Payne said.

Police arrived at Lochmara Lodge yesterday afternoon and took the man back to Picton.

As they were leaving the bay, the man spotted the yacht tied up at a jetty.

Officers boarded the yacht and arrested a man about 8pm yesterday.

- The Marlborough Express