Body of missing sailor found after storm

The body of experienced yachtsman Mal Lennon has been found after he was washed off his boat in severe storms that hit NSW's mid-north coast.

The body of a man was discovered floating in the water on Sunday morning by a recreational vessel following a four-day search for Mr Lennon, police say.

He is yet to be formally identified, but police believe the man is the missing 62-year-old sailor, who was at the helm of the yacht Amante when he was struck by a huge wave that knocked him into the water off Broughton Island on Wednesday morning.

Crew members and investigators believe Mr Lennon was struck by a "green wave" - a wall of water that had not yet broken.

Rescuers had little hope he survived the night in the rough seas without a life jacket.

"Sea conditions were up to six to eight metres with sometimes up to 50-knot gales," NSW Police Marine Area Command Superintendent Mark Hutching told reporters before the body was found.

Mr Lennon, who has an adult daughter with his former wife, was a civil engineer but had been a property manager with Cadence Australia for a decade.

His boss Todd Murphy, whose father had known Mal for more than 40 years, told AAP during the search that the news had come as a shock to staff who were numb and in distress.

Mr Murphy described Mr Lennon as a "one off" and a "smart cookie" who is passionate about his family, his work and sailing.

"A lot of young people work for us and Mal was a good role model for them and a much-loved bloke," he said on Thursday.

"Mal was a one off. He was an incredibly smart person. It's of no surprise he was on a boat doing what he loved."

Mr Lennon grew up with three siblings in the iconic property Wanganui at Longueville, which sold last year for almost $6.5 million.

Amante, owned and skippered by Dennis Cooper, was returning to Sydney after coming 33rd in the Club Marine Pittwater to Coffs yacht race over the new year break.