A skipper who Tauranga Coastguard says was ‘confused' by the port's navigation markers ran his yacht aground in the harbour this morning.

The 12m steel hulled yacht Salamander ran aground on the harbour's centre bank in darkness at 6.45am and refloated with the rising tide after daybreak.

Salamander ran aground in the dark this morning.

Tauranga Coastguard believes Salamander is an overseas vessel.

'We don't know where he has come from, but he's a stranger to Tauranga,” says Coastguard operations manager Simon Barker.

'He was trying to rely on the lights to get into the harbour, and they are not the easiest to follow in Tauranga.”

In a separate incident the Coastguard's TECT Rescue boat was called out at 1.45am to another yacht in distress – outside the harbour.

The 11m yacht was motoring towards the entrance when its engine failed about four miles out, and it began drifting towards Karewa Island.

The Coastguard crew managed to find the yacht in rain and rough seas and towed it slowly back to the harbour.