The boat capsized on Tuesday morning, with a 17-year-old boy assisting the 90-year-old to shore.

However, the elderly man died at the scene. The boy was uninjured.

A rescue operation had been mounted with police, NSW Ambulance paramedics, Surf Lifesaving NSW and a helicopter involved.

Local media report the 90-year-old was renowned sailor Peter Warner, who won the annual Sydney to Hobart race three times in the 1960s and made world headlines in 1966 when rescuing six Tongan boys who had been marooned on a remote island for more than a year.

Australian Associated Press