A 57 foot launch is beached off Mount Maunganui after it hit rocks on Tuesday night.
Tauranga Coastguard operations manager Simon Barker says they received a distress signal from the boat at about 10.30pm.

Members of the public look at the beached 57 foot launch Paradise early Wednesday morning. Photo: Lyle McMahon.

He says the skipper reported that the boat had hit rocks near Rabbit Island and was sinking.

A pilot boat was nearby and responded promptly to assist the sinking vessel.

Simon says that when the pilot boat arrived, the three people onboard had already evacuated into an inflatable dinghy.

The boat, called Paradise, is beached about 30 metres offshore from Marine Parade, near Grove Avenue.

SunLive was at the scene on Wednesday morning as the owner and skipper of the boat waded back out early Wednesday morning to secure his possessions inside.

A group of his friends, including Tauranga's Nigel Evans, were watching as he climbed onboard.

'He's still pretty shaken up. I think he's still trying to get his head around it.”

Mount Maunganui residents looking at the beached launch. Photo: Lyle McMahon.

Nigel says the man, Darryl Hodson, was returning from Fiji with two friends.

He believes the boat was in autopilot as it headed toward a beacon near Rabbit Island.

'It's a good sturdy boat. But like any boat, they don't like rocks,” says Nigel.

He says Darryl deliberately steered the boat close into shore so it didn't sink it deep water.

Nigel spent hours helping salvage items that washed ashore.

Items included fridges, freezers, shoes, clothes and pieces of the boat.

'We're a bit concerned the boat is going to lay over when the tide goes out.”

Plans are still being considered about how the boat can be removed.

Waves buffet the grounded boat. Photos: COL/surf2surf.