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Coastguard NZ


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Ok I pay annual membership + a monthly top up.

Last night got a call asking if I could top up my top up.Unfortunatly NO.
It appears they are short of $75 per rescue.
 
Lotto gave the some $$ and they recieved for free 1 or 2 ex Americas cup chase vessels.
 
So my question is,Should C/G raise from $115 to $150??
 
Should be funded by Government.( yeah can where that will go)why am I funding rich pricks to be rescued??
 
Do we start paying a licence fee and certs for vessels to help reduce cost/recues?
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good question.  Not many people are aware that the ambulance services across NZ are also funded from donations etc, not fully funded through the health system (they do charge ACC though and get full cost recovery on those calls).

Fire services outside main centres are largely voluntary as well.

For CG, I would prefer to see a call-out fee, even for members - say $100.  Like an insurance policy excess.  That would help reduce the number of spurious call-outs and may help improve behaviour.  The question is, how would they collect it?

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I feel like the cost per rescue number is almost unbounded.

I remember being amazed at the capital tied up in British lifeboats, like this one that launched 5 times last year.

https://www.cromerrnli.org.uk/

I'm sure our coastguard have a *lot* more to do than that, but really, more patrols is better, more overflights is better, more staff is better, more training is better.

It doesn't surprise me that the coastguard are never going to say, we're fine, we have enough resource.

 

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Just for the record, members tows are free up to 340 nautical miles. Rescues - ie emergencies are free anyway, whether you are a member or not.

The callout "donation" for non-members is $280 per hour. I Would suggest that there would be no need for increases if EVERYONE was a member. There are probably a lot of boaties out there who are not members, and who take a chance that they will never have to call for assistance. The extra revenue would make up for the shortfall I think.

I'm not sure what the definition of a 'spurious' callout is by the way.

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4 hours ago, alibaba said:

I'm not sure what the definition of a 'spurious' callout is by the way.

Those ones where its easy and convenient to callout the CG, when a little effort on the owner's behalf would have either avoided or mitigated the problem.  I'm thinking of whatever is the maritime equivalent of ringing the AA to change a tire for you, or to deal with your lack of fuel when you are 400m from a petrol station.

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Dont get confused I believe that our Coastguard generally do wonderful work -and work their volunteers quite hard.

But in the last ten years things seem to be a little muddled to an outsider such as myself, -the purchase of a foiling cat flagship for the Auckland Coastguard at a cost of $4+

million in the end, that is not without structural issues, and has been advertised recently?

 

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15 hours ago, aardvarkash10 said:

Those ones where its easy and convenient to callout the CG, when a little effort on the owner's behalf would have either avoided or mitigated the problem.  I'm thinking of whatever is the maritime equivalent of ringing the AA to change a tire for you, or to deal with your lack of fuel when you are 400m from a petrol station.

This has been discussed a lot over the years, going to sea with the attitude that an outside agency will come to your aid can make some skippers act incompetently. My impression is that the role can often be pretty murky in a recreational situation but Maritime NZ is clear;

"The skipper is legally responsible for the safety of the boat and all the people on board, and is also responsible for complying with all the relevant rules and regulations."

It would be interesting to see the incident report breakdown, I expect most callouts would be trailer boats with engine issues including running out of fuel.

.

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6 hours ago, Psyche said:

This has been discussed a lot over the years, going to sea with the attitude that an outside agency will come to your aid can make some skippers act incompetently. My impression is that the role can often be pretty murky in a recreational situation but Maritime NZ is clear;

"The skipper is legally responsible for the safety of the boat and all the people on board, and is also responsible for complying with all the relevant rules and regulations."

It would be interesting to see the incident report breakdown, I expect most callouts would be trailer boats with engine issues including running out of fuel.

.

Quoted from a fishing site.

talking to a guy who man’s the Coast Guard boats in Auckland. He says there were hundreds of assistance given over Xmas. I asked the biggest issue and he said broken down boats first time out after they had just been serviced. Ha, I’m always nervous going out after a service and that info confirms I

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