A search is continuing for three fishermen missing off the coast of Gisborne after a boat they were in failed to return to shore on Monday.
On Monday it was thought there were two people onboard, but it's since been confirmed there were three Gisborne local men on the boat.
Their last communication was shortly before 10am on Monday. At that time the vessel was about 20km offshore.
Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club president Roger Faber was on another fishing boat as part of the fishing trip.
He told AM on Tuesday morning that there had been some nice bluefin tuna caught over the weekend and so this fishing group was keen to get amongst it.
"The plan for ourselves was to go out and hopefully get a bluefin tuna."
Faber said the group checked the weather forecast before heading out on the water about 7am. He said conditions were "favourable" and it was looking to be "a good day" for it.
"We headed straight down to the area which was out off Māhia about 25 nautical miles from Gisborne. The other boat, the missing boat, left slightly later and they were doing a different plan - going out to a spot called Roman Nose then heading south."
He said the fishermen were communicating via radio in the morning where they exchanged plans.
However, once the fishermen got out onto the water the favourable five knots turned out to be a 15 knots nor'easter with four-metre swells.
"We thought it might have dropped out but unfortunately as the morning went on it got worse and worse and late morning we decided to pull the pin, calling up the other boat that had gone down that way with us, they also had made the same decision, and then we tried to call the missing boat who unfortunately didn't reply at that time," Faber said.
"We hoped that maybe they'd decided to come in earlier but then found that their trailer was still at the boat ramp and that's when concerns came and we decided to get in touch with police and Coastguard."
Faber said there were three Gisborne local men on that missing boat who are "well known to everybody".
"The skipper is a well-known local game fisherman who does a lot of fishing out of here, participates in all our competitions and has caught some excellent broadbill, marlin and tuna over the years. He's one of our top game fishermen so plenty of experience, knows what he's doing.
"We just hope that they have drifted into shore or are somewhere down the coast somewhere where there's no communications."
Coastguard Gisborne, the Gisborne Rescue Helicopter, and several other vessels supported the initial search on Monday evening.
"Overnight, a NZDF P8 Poseidon undertook a radar search off Poverty Bay, Northern Hawkes Bay, and the Māhia Peninsula," Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ) operations manager Michael Clulow said in an update on Tuesday morning.
"A helicopter is currently undertaking a shoreline search between Gisborne and the Māhia Peninsula. Other aviation search assets will join the search this morning as conditions allow.
"Heavy rain, strong winds and large seas are forecast in the area today, making the search challenging."
Speaking from the harbour on Tuesday morning, Faber said a Coastguard boat was there on standby waiting for enough light to resume the search efforts - but too said conditions were challenging.
Faber said Coastguard came back to land on Monday night as they were low on fuel and conditions were getting dangerous on the water.
"They've suggested no other boats go out and search for them. It was, as I mentioned, four-metre swells with probably 20 knots on top. We have an absolutely atrocious forecast going forward - it's building to eight metres and going around to the sou'east and up to 50 knots so no boat should be out there in those sorts of conditions.
"Hopefully, hopefully these guys have come ashore somewhere and have just got no communications."
