Yachtsman Richard Rusbatch, who drowned after falling overboard from his yacht while sailing from Tauranga to the Bay of Islands, had been drinking before he fell, a coroner has found.

In official findings released yesterday, Coroner Wallace Bain says the 57-year-old is presumed to have drowned on February 12 after falling overboard from the leased 38foot yacht Honfleur as he sailed from Tauranga Bridge Marina to Paihia.

Richard Rusbatch went missing from 38foot yacht Honfleur.

His disappearance sparked an extensive Search and Rescue operation after the yacht's inflatable dinghy was located by a commercial fishing boat 10 nautical miles south east of Mayor Island on Monday, February 13.

A day later the unmanned Honfleur was found by a fishing charter 11 nautical miles east of Mayor Island with the motor running, its rudder hard to starboard and the anchor dragging about 5metres.

The police summary of facts, presented by Sergeant Chris Summerville, indicates Richard died at sea in no suspicious circumstances.

On February 8, Richard sailed with four Russian men from Russell to Tauranga. They arrived at Tauranga Bridge Marina on Saturday, February 11.

The Russian men stayed onboard overnight, before leaving for Whakatane by taxi the next day.

The last person to see Richard was Ted Hadley, whose launch was berthed next to the Honfleur. He helped Richard untangle the yacht's dinghy which got caught on a pier before Richard set sail for Slipper Island on the afternoon of Sunday, February 12.

At 6.09pm that evening Richard made a two hour long phone call to his friend Peter Donovan in Wellington telling him he was moored 300 metres off Mayor Island and was watching seals swimming.

He also told Peter he was paid $7000 for the trip with the Russians and was heading to Great Barrier Island the next morning to stay with a friend before returning to Russell.

Peter told police he believed Richard had been drinking, judging by the phone conversation and an empty bottle of wine was also found on the boat.

About 24 hours later commercial fisher Wayne Bird came across an inflatable dinghy near Mayor Island and alerted Seacom and Coastguard. Police were later alerted by Kevin Proud, who was running a fishing charter when he found Honfleur unmanned.

A search and rescue operation involving police, coastguard and public resources was launched and searched the air and land around Mayor Island.

The initial air search covered about a 900km square radius, triangulating between where the dinghy was located, the yacht was located and the last known point of anchorage in Honeymoon Bay, Mayor Island.

Teams also completed a land search on the southern side of Mayor Island, including Honeymoon Bay, and Southeast Bay, the two main anchorages on the Island with the teams satisfied he had not made it on to the Island with the search suspended on February 16.