A Royal New Zealand Airforce P3 Orion began searching at first light this morning for a yacht missing off the East Coast.

The Tafadzwa, with one man on board, set off from Tauranga on Friday morning and was due in at Gisborne on Monday. Police were alerted and a search launched on Monday evening.

The Rescue Coordination Centre NZ (RCCNZ) tasked a twin-engined PA31 equipped with radar and three trained observers to search an area up to 50 kilometres offshore from East Cape yesterday but saw no sign of the yacht.

RCCNZ Search and Rescue mission coordinator Keith Allen said the P3 Orion left Whenuapai at 7am and had the capacity to search all day if needed.

Two search areas had been identified by RCCNZ for the aircraft to cover - one stretching from bottom of the Bay of Plenty and out from East Cape, with an area of around 7000 square miles. The second area was between East Cape and Gisborne and out to 50 nautical miles offshore, totalling around 17000 square miles.

"It's a large area to search but the P3 Orion is well equipped with radar and trained observers," Mr Allen said.

"The yacht is steel hulled which makes it an excellent target for the radar to find. The search conditions are good at present and the P3 Orion will be working to systematically cover the search plans we have provided."

Mr Allen said while there were serious concerns for the missing vessel, the fact that no wreckage or other sign of difficulty had been sighted today was potentially a good sign.

"The yacht has a water activated emergency beacon on board, which should have sent an signal if it was immersed in water."

RCCNZ is the national coordinator for all major (Category II) search and rescue incidents within New Zealand's search and rescue region - an area covering more than 30 million square kilometres. It responds to significant incidents on land, air and sea, and all distress alerts from emergency beacons. RCCNZ is part of Maritime New Zealand and is Government-funded to provide a 24 hour, seven day a week service.