Two surfers who lost their dinghy off Matakana Island on Tuesday need a bigger anchor and longer rope for the next time they go out.

The dinghy dragged its anchor and was seen heading out to sea by people walking on the Mount base track.

Sea conditions on Tuesday during the emergency service callout were rough with a 2-3m swell.

They called the police at lunchtime saying the dinghy was overturned.

'The boat wasn't upside down,” says Tauranga volunteer Coastguard operations manager Simon Barker.

'We went out there, found it anchored on the banks and there was no sign of anybody in it.

'There were some empty surfboard covers in it, so we guessed it was from some people surfing.

'We looked around for a while and finally found them trying to get back to their boat so we picked them up.”

When they returned to the dinghy it had dragged the anchor again on the outgoing tide and was eventually relocated out past A beacon.

'They jumped in the water climbed back on and followed us back in,” says Simon.

'It was all resolved fine.”

If the two men in their 30s had continued to try and find their boat themselves they could have gotten into strife, says Simon.

Though there was a swell coming onto the Matakana Island banks, the tide and wind was pushing the pair out quite quickly.

The dinghy's anchor was still attached to its line.