Latest vessel due for launch

With Matt Turner

The big news for the Coastguard Hibiscus unit is that, after months of anticipation, our new vessel Hibiscus Rescue 1 is scheduled to undergo sea trials and hit the water later this month. Watch this space. In the meantime, our dependable Sealegs was tasked out to a number of call-outs over the holiday season. Most were routine –broken-down vessels needing a tow home – but a couple are worth reporting.

It’s not often, for instance, that we are called out to assist wildlife. The rescue vessel was called out after a walker on Stanmore Bay reported a gannet trying, in vain, to take off from the water’s surface. Something, they said, appeared to be dangling from its bill. Our crew found the culprit to be a length of fishing line. One end came from inside the bird’s mouth, the other was attached to a plastic drink bottle. The crew cut the line as close to the bill as they dared – a 20-knot wind and 150cm wingspan not making it easy – and then freed the bird, which paddled slowly out to sea. (Whether the gannet was a Coastguard member or not is not recorded!)

On another occasion, Hibiscus Rescue 2 was called out after hearing of a capsized boat and people in the water off Tindall’s Beach. A preliminary search showed nothing but finally, close to Wellington Reef, the crew spotted six inches of bow protruding from the water and pointing to the sky. Luckily, the three occupants had already managed to transfer to a small runabout vessel nearby, so were in no immediate danger. Hibiscus Rescue 2 then towed the ‘submersible’ up and out and back to Polkinghorne Bay. A quick debrief chat revealed alcohol to be a possible contributing factor. Regardless of whether it led directly to this particular sinking, booze and boats just don’t mix: skippers who overuse alcohol on the water are putting lives at risk, and not just their own.

In a more positive vein, we are delighted that Coastguard Hibiscus has been awarded $2000 of the community funds donated by the new Z service station on Whangaparaoa Road. We would like to extend our thanks to Z for their support, and to all those motorists who contributed to the scheme.