Education, not enforcement

Out on the water, Coastguard Hibiscus occasionally receives complaints from the public about jetskiers and boats getting too close to swimmers or other vessels, and/or speeding.

The Maritime rule is that no vessel may exceed a speed of five knots within 50m of any other vessel, raft or person in the water, within 200m of the shore or any structure or within 200m of any vessel or raft flying the A flag (divers’ flag).

While Coastguard promotes the five-knot rule, and educates boaties about it, we are not a law enforcement agency. Enforcement powers are with the Harbourmaster and the Police and Coastguard passes complaints about speeding and getting too close to other vessels or swimmers onto these agencies. In NZ, Coastguard’s role is purely saving lives at sea – assisting boaties who get into difficulty out on the water and educating the public about safe boating.

Hibiscus Rescue One crew went ashore one day and a group of worried American tourists asked what we were doing. Talking to them it emerged they had thought we had law enforcement powers and carried guns like the American Coastguard – wrong on both counts. At the time we thought this was rather entertaining as our harmless sortie ashore was merely a pitstop to buy some lunch. However it drove home the message that the public don’t usually see what we do out on the water and often get their perceptions from overseas news – particularly, American news – or movies such as The Guardian. (This movie stars Kevin Costner and is all about the US Coastguard, which is part of the USA military.) It has made us aware, particularly in assisting tourists on their boats, that not everyone is aware of Coastguard’s volunteer role.

This is the last column for the summer so safe boating over the winter and remember to always check the marine weather forecast before heading out on the water and heed any weather warnings. This information is available on Coastguard Nowcasting on VHF channels 20, 21 and 22 in the Hauraki Gulf, live on Coastguard VHF Channels 80/82 at 08:05, 12:05, 16:05 and 20:05 hrs or from Metservice or Maritime Radio.

Happy boating.