A yacht skipper who forced a container ship to change course in the Tauranga Harbour entrance has been infringed by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council Harbourmaster.
The incident occurred on June 5 as the container ship was coming into the Port of Tauranga in the Matakana channel.
The ship tried repeatedly to alert the yacht with five short blasts of the horn, with no response or alteration of course from the yacht. The ship was forced to change its course.
Under the Regional Navigation Safety Bylaw, a skipper of any vessel under 500 gross tonnage within the Tauranga pilotage area can not impede the navigation of any vessel over 500 gross tonnage.
Harbourmaster Jon Jon Peters says there is a moving prohibited zone in the Matakana channel to help protect smaller boats.
'This means skippers must not navigate 500 metres in front of and 50 metres either side of large ships,” says Peters.
'We had a patrol boat in the area and the skipper of the yacht was spoken to after the incident.”
Under maritime law the skipper has been fined the maximum amount of $200.
Click here to read the rules around boating.
2 comments
$200 ?
Posted on 09-06-2022 15:19 | By SonnyJim
Fine should be 10x that. --- Old legislation ? I wonder how salty the ship captain's words were ?
A lot more common than you may think
Posted on 09-06-2022 15:21 | By RJP
All too common in the harbour entrance, Yachts often show total disregard for the collision avoidance rules when tacking in the harbour entrance often cutting across the bow of incoming vesicles claiming right of way Good on the harbour master, Fine should be $2,000 Now Maritime NZ will also likely be involved
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