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Big-spending superyacht turned away


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3 hours ago, Black Panther said:

The regular offshore cruising fleet would have spent 50 times that and they were not allowed in. 

Both decisions were a joke

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46 minutes ago, armchairadmiral said:

No higher authority than Michael Field on Twitter

I'd probably rate any no name on twitter higher than the Herald, but then again, I'm a bit weird, I think Mike Hoskin is a w^&#$@r, an all.

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But wait!  This sounds as though we may not have the full story.... (of course that doesn't stop the knockers on this site...)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Pacificnewsroom/permalink/868825307037640

"BOLD QUESTIONS

By Michael Field
The German owned superyacht Bold remains in quarantine in Fiji after a case of Covid-19 was found aboard it last Saturday.
While Fiji’s Ministry of Health issued a confusing statement about the incident, the mystery now is what happened with it in Vanuatu?
The nation of 300,000 has managed to keep Covid-19 to its border, but did Bold violate that border?
Here is what we know.
German billionaire Guido Krass owns the US$100 million Marshall Islands flagged Bold. It’s not known whether he has been on board as these events unfolded but the vessel was heading to Aotearoa-New Zealand for yachting’s America’s Cup. As Covid had kept many superyachts out of the country, Bold was the star turn.
The vessel was in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, when it departed at 10.23am on February 1. It listed its new port of call as Auckland, New Zealand, advising its ETA as 1am February 15.
It should be noted that Port Moresby had been on the edge of what will be a chaotic Covid lockdown.
According to a Fiji Ministry of Health statement issued on Monday, among those who had joined Bold in Port Moresby was a 44-year-old man. He had no Covid symptoms and tested negative during pre-departure testing in Port Moresby.
As the vessel left it did not, as indicated on MarineTraffic.com, take a direct course for Auckland, but rather headed for Moewo, a long thin island of 4000 people, 300 kilometres north of Port Vila. It also visited Pentecost Island south of Moewo.
It arrived off there on February 13 where it was spotted by locals. Photos and a video were taken and as well as being sent to police in Luganville, they were sent to The Pacific Newsroom.
We were able to quickly identify the vessel.
The Vanuatu authorities have not said what happened but on February 14 it was in Port Vila harbour, having been escorted there by the Vanuatu patrol vessel Tukoro.
State broadcaster VBTC was there and photographed officials boarding Bold.
And infringement notice was issued against Bold for illegal entry,
What we don’t know was the state of the 44-year-old man. It had been 13 days since he had tested negative to Covid, In 20 days time, the man would test positive in Fiji.
Did the virus get to go ashore in Moewo and Pentecost?
The only information on this came in a Radio New Zealand/New Zealand Herald interview with Bold’s skipper Todd Leech who made no mention of his trip to Vanuatu nor the Covid positive on his boat.
He said Bold had strict pandemic protocols on board and ashore and operated as a superyacht bubble.
"All our time at sea the owners and the crew are quite scared of coronavirus so we literally don't go ashore. We will go to an uninhabited beach or go for a swim at an offshore reef but we have not been going into town. I can't tell you the last time I went to a restaurant or bar - that was many, many months ago," Leech said.
After leaving Port Vila Bold again sailed on a court that did not take it to Auckland but headed to the Tonga territory of Minerva atoll. It was an odd place to go; not rising above sea-level, it has no resident population.
There Bold stayed until March 5 when, coincidentally, a magnitude 8 earthquake rattled through the area. It soon after set sail for Fiji’s “Blue Lane” at Denarau, arriving there on March 6 and the Covid positive result.
Todd Leech says New Zealand has refused to give access to Bold, preventing New Zealand’s marine service industry from getting nearly a million dollars worth of refit business. They will now take that to Australia.
From Vanuatu Broadcasting:
From Fiji Ministry of Health"
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You may be right KM, but I would also think that the likes of Grant Robertson are politically astute enough to know that money talks. If there is sufficient revenue from these boats, I would have thought things would be easier to get them in.

I note the skipper of this boat was very very cagey about how much they would spend. He only mentioned getting a few life jackets and life rafts serviced. I know life rafts cost a fortune to service these days, but not $3/4 mil, as 'rumoured' by the Herald. Now, don't get me wrong, I think there is a clear economic benefit to you guys for letting these boats in. I just think that in this story, they are being a bit too clever with the details, i.e. spinning us along. The fact they've done some dodgies in Vanuatu, and are now 'man-splaining' their covid positive reinforces this point. 

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It doesn't take a lot of digging to find the owner also has significant interests in Silver Yachts in Australia.  Silver Yachts is a large superyacht building and maintenance company in Freemantle.

Which begs the question, wtf would they come to NZ for a major refit?

And kinda explains why they now advise they will be going to Aussie for the work.

Quelle surprise n'est pas?

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56 minutes ago, aardvarkash10 said:

It doesn't take a lot of digging to find the owner also has significant interests in Silver Yachts in Australia.  Silver Yachts is a large superyacht building and maintenance company in Freemantle.

Which begs the question, wtf would they come to NZ for a major refit?

And kinda explains why they now advise they will be going to Aussie for the work.

Quelle surprise n'est pas?

They never said they were coming to NZ for a major refit. That is just a rumour, that was repeated by the Herald. No doubt put about by someone with vested interests. All the skipper would say was he had a few life jackets and rafts to service. You don't keep 20 something crew on if you are going through a major refit...

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1 minute ago, Fish said:

They never said they were coming to NZ for a major refit. All the skipper would say was he had a few life jackets and rafts to service. You don't keep 20 something crew on if you are going through a major refit...

Correct.  So whence the $5m figure being tossed about?

Just bad reportage with not a lot of backgrounding done I suspect.

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