The boating public is being asked to keep an eye out for a yacht reported stolen from Opua sometime over Waitangi Weekend.

Harlech is a 13.7 (45ft) Birdsall-designed cutter owned by Whangarei couple Carol and Stephen Holland. The sail number is 4528.

Harlech has been advertised on Trademe since June 2014 as a capable, well maintained, live-aboard ocean cruiser that is able to be sailed solo. The asking price was $145,000.

Carol Holland believes it's been stolen by someone familiar with boats, and that it was taken sometime last week between Monday and Friday. It was gone from its Opua mooring when they went to take her out on Saturday.

It is being headlined on the Marine Radio bulletins, but the Hollands have been told it's probably been taken offshore.

'Anyone can just sail off into the blue, there's no-one out there looking,” says Carol when asked how the thieves would have cleared customs.

'At a certain time of the year - April and May - when all of the oversea yachts are starting to leave, Customs are really taking notice of what is going on.

'They have an aeroplane up there looking, because that's the time when everybody leaves, but at this time of year there's nothing really happening. The normal type of person doesn't leave at this time of year.

'So they are not taking any notice. And anyone can just hop on their boat and sail off. In the Bay of Islands when we left, we just sailed out, and no-one is taking any notice of you.”

The Hollands sailed Harlech to Tonga and Fiji in 2008, and to New Caledonia and Vanuatu in 2010.

'There's our personal stuff on board,” adds Carol. 'There's our logs and the trip log charting where we went and what we were doing. All of that is on board, and our charts with everything marked. We have lost all that.

'It suddenly makes me realise how people feel who have their house burned down and lost everything, which is even worse.

'Thank God there wasn't too much. Just our log from our overseas trip and Steve had a sextant. Steve sailed out from the UK over 30 years ago on his own boat and he navigated by sextant

'He's got his own sextant in a lovely wooden box that we have on board. That's got real sentimental value. He's had it for 35 years or more. Things like that are irreplaceable and you can't put a value on them.”

Northland police have told the Hollands that such thefts of yachts in New Zealand are rare, and that the owners seldom get them back.

'Rather than be caught on board they can just scuttle it,” says Carol. 'Quite frankly, after people have been on it like that would you want it back? Just the whole creepy business of it, you know?”

Harlech was built by boat builder Gary Wheeler in triple diagonal kauri over laminated frames and stringers.