No one needs to be exposed to this sort of behaviour. Before I was able to observe the name of the launch there was a cloud of black smoke as the throttles were opened wide and tons more water pushed along in front of the launch as it headed off towards Tapeka Point. To make things worse the other yacht is an offshore visitor, how welcome do they feel? Brad Scott, Bay of Islands
DEPLORABLE SSM
This is a copy of a letter sent to Seafarer Licensing, Maritime New Zealand. Dear Sir
As secretary of the Waihau Bay Volunteer Coastguard Inc, it has been bought to my attention that during a training exercise for our volunteers they came across a broken down fishing vessel at our harbour mouth.
They report that the vessel by the name of Otapiri at approximately 15m was in such a deplorable state of repair that it would be amazing if she could survive a rough sea, and, by report having never seen any paint, was a rust bucket awaiting the long overdue opportunity to sink.
The vessel as mentioned, is presumed to be a surface long liner as she had been noted fishing in an area known here as the Waikawa Trench.
The Otapiri
Our volunteers brought two of the Asian crew members to the shore, and although only able to speak very little English, our crew were able to phone their boss for them.
During the attempted polite conversations our crew naturally asked them what sort of fish they are targeting. My report reads, that this horrified them, "as fish is fish, what's your question?" Needless to say they had no money to cover either the cost of their phone calls, or that of returning of them to their vessel, but that is not the worry. What is, is the risk of life and limb to save them, which certainly raises some questions. What we enquire from a professional, and safety aspect is:
• Are you aware of this boat? • We note she was built in 1957, is she under current survey? • If so how? • Does it have current fishing quota, if so what? • Are the crew working to current New Zealand Legislation? We ask these questions from our professional safety aspect,
May/June 2012 Professional Skipper 5
VIP.S86
