A Tauranga woman is pleading for the return of her family's $1800 kayak after it was stolen during a Girl Guide camp at Welcome Bay.

Debbie Blair was hosting the camp at the Baden Powell Centre starting on Friday, April 11, after bad weather forced them to relocate from McLaren Falls.

Tauranga woman Debbie Blair's family kayak, which was stolen from a Girl Guide camp in Welcome Bay earlier this month.

She says the large three-seater kayak was taken between 1am-6pm on Saturday morning from outside the centre.

'We had two smaller kayaks inside with us – a two-seater and a one-seater.

'But the big three-seater is too big for me to manoeuvre, so I left it on the roof of the van.”

At about 12.30am, Debbie heard a man and woman arguing next door and went outside to check if everything was okay.

She says the kayak was still on the car but when she woke at 6am the tie downs were cut and the kayak gone.

'We packed up our tents and gear and relocated to McLaren Falls to continue our camp, but it meant that the girls didn't have a seat each for the kayaking session.

'So we had to split them into two groups and they only had half the time they were originally expecting to have.”

The loss of the kayak is having a large effect on the Blair family, says Debbie. Her 13 year old son was supposed to use the kayak to test his school metalwork project.

'He has designed a mechanism to enable me to get that big kayak on and off the van roof racks by myself.

'And, of course, my family are now short a big kayak that we can't afford to replace.”

Debbie reported the stolen kayak to Tauranga Police but they have since closed the file.