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Uncharted Rocks in Marina


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It has come to my attention that there are at least three rocks in the Gulf Harbour Marina that can be hit at low water. In the fairways :wtf:

The marina management are aware of this, and choose not to do anything, despite the fact that several boats have been damaged by them, some costing $1000's to fix.

IMO this is a breach of duty of care by the marina owners. What do the rest of you think?

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It's a bloody travesty - how can they allow this to happen. First they allow our marinas to be invaded by fanworm - and now rocks? We need YNZ to lobby the govt on our behalf. Wheels, I hope for your sake you didn't inadvertently carry any down to the SI.

 

BAN THE ROCKS I SAY - BAN THE ROCKS!

 

(Sorry - couldn't resist)

 

So I'm guessing that in both cases the rocks are actually dislodged basalt from man made rockwalls. You want to see the sea wall at the bottom of West Tamaki Road - rocks all over the bay. I have been known to move them outa the way at low tide to protect my windsurf fins - and toes!

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I agree and I think they are bastardos. Undoubtedly being negligent or at least ignorant arses.

 

Now, (to borrow a line) bring lawyers guns and money...

 

Shouldn't these obstructions be charted or marker posted?

There's a little reef just past the old Panmure Wharf I was once told (loudly, from balcony of yacht club:) and its got a channel marker post on it.

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It's more the fact that they are unmarked, in the fairway, than that they are there at all. I understand that they are solidly attached to the bottom, and hard to move. 3rd hand info though, could be wrong. Each is solid enough to stop a boat dead though. Nothing on any chart, and no markers.

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Wheels, I hope for your sake you didn't inadvertently carry any down to the SI.

 

No. I purposely sailed one down. ;-)

 

I think that if a Marina does not warn boaters that there is an obstacle at a specific depth, that is pretty negligent. Everyone expects a fairway to be clear and often Marinas will advertise that their Marina has a specific minimum operating depth. I have no idea about laws on this, but I am surprised an Insurance company has not taken them to task on this. I am also surprised the Rock is not charted if it is in a navigable channel.

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I struggle to believe that someone has not taken them to task over this after having serious damage done. If the rocks are shallower than the minimum safe depth advertised for the area they are in, that is negligence once the marina management have been made aware of this. I would imagine that the first to strike them would have made some pretty decent noise to them about this. 

 

Another side of this is:

The marina charge for the use of their facilities, and these hazards exist within their facilities.What would happen if the impact with these rocks knocked someone over and they broke an arm, leg, hip or any other injury due to the marina management having taken no action over the hazards? Maybe someone needs to point this out to them. From 5kph to a dead stop is almost certainly enough to knock someone who is not braced against it and does not have the option to step forward to maintain balance I would expect.

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many years ago when turoa ski field first opened

 

my little brother was skiing after me down 1 of their main little valleys in semi white-out conditions

 

out of the gloom the snow directly in front of me looked to have some kind of break in it so i veered to 1 side and dropped a foot over a small shelf that was about 4' at max

 

i stopped quickly to try and wave my little brother around the wide side of me to avoid the bigger drop

 

but his shorter skis meant to keep up he needed to cut each corner i was taking so he was already commited to cutting inside

 

i still remember the look of horror on his 7yo face when he saw that he was going over a little cliff

 

reflexively he leaned back, causing his ski tips to drop as he caught air, meaning they dug in on contact and pile drove him into the hard packed snow 

 

breaking the tibia and fibula of his left leg just above the ski boot

 

the conversation by the rescue crew with the banana boat went something like

 

"3rd accident involving broken bones on that rock this week - make sure this gets written up!

 

surely the parks board will now let us rope off that shelf for the rest of the winter and dynamite it out next summer" 

 

...

 

so if you want the marina rocks gone, make sure you send something in writing and email to auckland transport and the marina operator, preferably with a mud map of where they are

 

better yet try to find them over summer by snorkeling at low tide and log their gps position with a hand held in a dinghy

 

no doubt they've heard there's something out there

 

but can't take action leading to changes in the marine environment unless they have a paper trail of damage + complaints to show desk jockeys who run roads why budget must be spent n their removal or marking

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One of the Gulf Harbour rocks is in the fairway that leads to the travel lifts. But management dont seem to care. You would have thought that the management would at least want the area with the most boat traffic to be safe.

I wonder if it was something that affected their buddies in the drystacks that something would be done real quick to fix it.

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I agree and I think they are bastardos. Undoubtedly being negligent or at least ignorant arses.

 

Now, (to borrow a line) bring lawyers guns and money...

 

Shouldn't these obstructions be charted or marker posted?

There's a little reef just past the old Panmure Wharf I was once told (loudly, from balcony of yacht club:) and its got a channel marker post on it.

marked at both ends by green markers,pity the reef lies outside the boundary and its man made,scow?ballast when they use to load at the panmure wharf,amazing how many ignore the beacons,so close to our river racing start line,always interesting at low tide in a blow.Who is going to hit tonight?mind you miss the reef and hit the mud further down below last marker as it is creeping out past the marker by about 50m now,even further down by the red cans the mud line has crept in to channel,10m to 0 really quick,lots of fun late afternoon outgoing tide.Dear Boss will be late for work?

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Very interesting thread guys. 

 

If this has happened to you at Westhaven, we urge you to please get a fix of the rocks with a GPS so that you can tell us exactly where they are. If it's basalt rock, then we can remove it. If it's ocean floor, that may be another matter.

 

We would also be interested to know how deep the draft of your vessel is - the majority of our licensed area is to 2.5m. 

 

​Our email address and contacts are easy to find at www.westhaven.co.nz 

 

Cheers from Westhaven 

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