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Awatere


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Is that out of a newspaper wheels?

I see it is in colour.

There was a hooplah one or two years ago that this may be from. There was maybe one or two occasions, one where a truck trailer of frozen pork broke free and went overboard, but there was another one where people were alleging the ferry was in grave danger. Damage was done and vehicles did break free (a number like a dozen on the vehicle deck). Truck trailers loose and smashing everything else up. 

Various allegations were slung around, there was a good media shut down from Kiwirail and Martime NZ did that thing where they did absolutely nothing (as opposed to shafting a guy with a $500 boat, or prosecuting the widow of a drowned skipper).

 

There was an acknowledgement that the boat had to make a turn at a particular point that put it beam on to the seas, but that "at no point was the ferry in any danger" blah blah blah.

 

Not long after that, Kiwirail became very conservative and started cancelling sailings in fairly moderate conditions, using the reference to 'passenger comfort' as the reason.

 

Looking at this photo, I doubt the passengers would have been very comfortable...

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Aratere

 

That is a photoshop pic  - The newspaper article at the time said it was an artist impression of the actual 50 deg. roll.

 

The Aratere had to stear an  unfavorable angle in the heavy southerly, to clear Cape Terawhiti  on a course to the northern entrance to the sounds -  There were no off board cameras near the roll area. 

 

With shifted cargo and still listing they had to keep heading north until almost Kapiti Island  untill it was safe to turn and head back south.

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Thanks Warlord.
I have to say, like IT mentions, that angle would have been close the point of roll over and I was surprised to see it this far over and not have heard of an incident report as scathing as the potential risk would have been. I have no clue, but can Train freight carriages be tied down to withstand such a roll angle? I would hate to think of one ripping loose and smacking the Inside of the Hull. I would expect it to tear through the steel.
Plus the sea in the background just didn't seem quite right, but couldn't put a finger on it. Not enough clarity and detail.
It appeared on my FB page and I had no other details

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Yep, very interesting read Wheels. Seems that the right responses were eventually made. 

Damn lucky the day was not actually a catastrophe.

Interesting to note the AVS for this vessel is actually over 70 degrees. That's much higher than I would have thought.

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Yes 70dg is huge. In fact I would have thought only self righting vessels would be able to go that far. But I am not sure if in reality it would have made it much further than it did anyway and certainly not as far as 70. Everything would have ripped free and been against the side and if that did not cause a catastrophe, the roll back the other way would have.
Can you imagine the passengers if the boat went to 55-60deg.

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The report into the Awatere roll (near capsize) was sobering reading.

The bridge crew didn't know the fundamentals of some mission critical equipment. They didn't know how the Autopilot was set-up, how to check the setting or how to change them e.g. rudder response angles.

I would never step onboard one of those things again.

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