A leap of faith has saved a man whose yacht encountered some steering problems in rough seas in the Bay of Plenty.

A distress signal was set off at 8.15pm sparking a major overnight rescue operation 41 nautical miles from Tauranga.

Paul with the EPIRB he bought recently.

The vessel was found battling 35 knot winds and big seas about 20 nautical miles northeast of Mayor Island.

Paul Christenson, who has at least five years experienced around boats, was forced to leap from his boat into the arms of Tauranga Coastguard members.

'I'm lucky they have strong arms,” says Paul, speaking to SunLive after his ordeal.

Paul, 54, was sailing the 8.8m Windsong from Auckland to Dunedin, where he and his wife Michelle has recently relocated to.

Paul says his wife is his best friend and his supported him no matter what.

A message over the Maritime National Radio from Michelle to Paul had everyone who was involved in the rescue choked up.

'I love you. I don't care about the about the boat. I can live without the boat, but I can't live without you.” It was those words from Michelle that spurred on rescue teams to get to Paul.

Before setting sail, Paul had checked the forecast and believed he had a 3-4 day window of sailable weather.

However, things turned when he entered waters near the Bay of Plenty yesterday.

'It was nasty. It wasn't just a big swell. The water was ugly.”

It was about 1pm when Paul noticed some steering issues with Windsong. He says the vessel would not behave properly.

Paul with his EPIRB in the daylight.

After encountering some issues, Paul decided to head into Tauranga to try and get everything settled. He didn't make it to Tauranga and ended up setting off his EPIRB, which he had recently just bought.

He was located by shipping vessel Kota Loceng around 3am.

Paul says he was shattered by the time rescue crews reached him.

'I had got my wife's clothes off the boat, but left my new clothes and heart medication behind. My priorities were all screwed up.”

Over a hot breakfast of bacon and eggs, Paul could not sing the praises of his rescuers enough.

Those same rescuers are now heading to work after spending all night out at sea.

Windsong is still out in the water and could pose a navigational hazard. People out there, are warned to keep their eyes peeled for it.

Coastguard skipper Calvern Sing, Hanna Sharps and Paul Christenson.