A Tauranga kayaker's place in the New Zealand squad is under threat unless his $2000 kayak that disappeared after falling off a vehicle is not returned.

Jack Wilson lost his sole C1 slalom kayak on Friday after one of the straps holding the boat in place on the roof of his father's car broke at the Maungatapu roundabout.

Jack Wilson and his missing kayak.

'By the time he had gone down the off ramp and then come back up to get it someone had picked it up and it was gone. We returned about five minutes later,” says the 16-year-old.

A member of the New Zealand U18 Development kayak squad currently training for competitions in Australia in January, the disappearance leaves Wilson unable to train on the water.

The squad leaves for Australia in December, but if the kayak doesn't reappear Wilson will be forced to fundraise for another brand new kayak –leaving him little time to retain his spot in the side.

'I can't train at the moment. At the moment it is the off-season so we are only training four times a week.

'This threatens my place in the team if I cannot get my boat back.”

Since Friday, the family have posted pleas of help on Facebook and gone to police to try and re-locate the kayak.

The kayak is carbon black with two silver stripes twisting up the middle from nose to tail.

'It's a pretty distinctive one; I think there is less than 10 in New Zealand.”

If anyone has any information they can contact SunLive on 0800 SUNLIVE or email newsroom@thesun.co.nz