Photo: RNZ / Claire Eastham-Farrelly
The yacht,
Tribe, made a distress call on Wednesday evening, off the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, sparking a major search and rescue operation in the area the mayday call was made.
Maritime New Zealand said in eight metre swells, with night falling, the skipper radioed that his yacht was taking on water and was sinking.
"He gave coordinates as well as he could," Maritime NZ said in a statement.
"He had a hand-held VHF radio attached to his clothing but after the broken communications with Maritime Radio, he could no longer use his radio or listen to it.