A voyaging waka with six people on board capsized and broke up while crossing the Whakatane bar.

Surfers in the water took people to a nearby sand spit where they were rescued by Whakatane Coastguard and other boats.

The waka wreck which capsized crossing the Whakatane bar.

Coastguard crew pagers went off at 6am and they were on the water nine minutes later.

The council boat Port Whakatane and another boat were already in the water.

Coastguard president Jim Williamson says the six men were in the water for 15-20 minutes.

'The surfies that were down the heads did the bulk of the rescue because they were in among the surf.

'They brought them all in to the Pirapai spit. We just dropped some people to bring them ashore and back across the river.

'Nobody appeared to be injured but they were taken away by ambulance. They sorted them from there.”

Police report one person was taken to hospital for observation.

'The waka had caught a rather large wave, surfed down the face of it and flipped at the bottom,” says a statement from police.

There were a lot of people down at the harbour at the time because they were waiting for the decision on the Whakatane One Base fishing tournament, which Jim says was called off because of the bar conditions just before the waka capsized.

The waka is Nuku Taiao, which was at Whakatane on its way to Waitangi from Gisborne where it was making repairs.

Salvage operation today.

The waka wrecked on the Whakatane bar.