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Foreign boat not allowed to leave.


Kestrahl

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I think most of you replying here are all a bit PC and forgetting that not long ago there were a lot more people cruising in simple boats and on budgets. My experience goes back a few years to the 80,s and 90,s and at that time there would have been many simple yachts with people living the dream. We were, as a group, I think a lot more open minded to the differences in our fellow cruisers. Many of us had to work along the way to maintain our simple lifestyles. In many cases we would be working for cash in foreign counties and we had no work permits. There was a time when it was routine to bootleg Whisky from South Africa to Brazil, selling it over there for a substantial profit and cases of whisky was almost standard cargo for most cruisers crossing the south Atlantic. We looked after ourselves and fellow cruisers and always helped those down on their luck. There was very little difference in attitude between the wealthy cruisers and us on more modest yachts.

I can see by the attitude of some of those this forum, we would have been reported to the authorities for smuggling or working illegally. I don’t think this attitude is the norm of the wonderful Kiwi cruisers out there cruising the world at the moment.

I am not making excuses for Yacht Alexander and don’t know anything further other than what I have read here. He may or not be the biggest prick, but maybe give him a break as he at least took the time to respond and put his case forward.

Obviously he did not intend to be in the limelight and circumstances put him there,stupidly through his own doing. So he overstayed his visa, but was going to leave anyway. Stealing Wifi? Wow I doubt there would be many of us out there who would not do this in pinch while travelling. This probably is no different to illegal downloading, or using illegal software.

Hey and remember he is out there living the dream, while most of us are paying off mortgages.

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Sevenseas, you're missing the point. It's not about the boat, or the visa, or really even the WiFi.

I don't care if a bod wants to cruise the world on a raft constructed of inflated garbage sacks, with a nice layer of topsoil in which to grow taro: To each his own.

 

This is about the very public bitching and apparent misrepresentation of what turns out to be perfectly reasonable treatment from a government department confronted by someone who's boat (in his own words) gets no more than $100/year spent on it; _APPEARS_ to the casual observer to be unseaworthy, and who has deliberately chosen to overstay.

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The point is Sevenseas, he bitched about NZ persecuting him when in fact it was his actions that caused his problem. It was he who took a swing at his dream, knot NZ. What you are seeing is NZ defending itself against an unreasonable attack by an unreasonable person who said stupid stuff to the wrong person at the wrong time, you aren't seeing anyone knocking any dream.

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Doesn't answer the question of why he wasn't allowed to leave at the first attempt though.

I speculate the overstaying was a factor... that there may have been a legal requirement to actively enforce the departure, and that if you're going to force somebody to leave then you bear some responsibility for the safety of the conveyance. Or, speculating again, that poor maligned Mr Burton was sufficiently appalled by the visual state of the boat to feel morally compelled to do something irrespective of what regulation may or may not apply to foreign-flagged vessels.

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Myself, I was liking the bit about extreme feminism in Wellington being the result of wearing school uniforms.

 

The bit I wasn't able to figure though was whether the extreme feminists were the ones who did wear school uniforms or the ones who didn't.

 

This is pretty important to know because if you don't particularly like extreme pushy feminists, then you need to know whether you should try picking up only girls in school uniforms in bars or whether these are the ones to be avoided?

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Point! :mrgreen:

 

I can finally understand why the feminists in Wellington seemed so extreme.

I'm almost afraid to ask this BA, but exactly what were you doing when you encountered these feminist extremists?

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No, he's saying the rest of us are such boring sheep that even the most mild feminist appears extreme by comparison, (maybe he has a point?)

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I'm picking the criminal bludger is the small boat, recently arrived, that has parked itself smack bang in the middle of the channel leading to the main anchorage. Not a clever place to park considering the fact the island traders don't take that corner very well. If it is indeed Alexandra he has already pissed a whole lot of people here & confirmed everything bad I thought. Still, not much traffic until Wednesday due to Independence day tomorrow so he might see the light, show some respect and f*ck off somewhere more appropriate.

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At least he has shifted his POS away from the entrance channel now. Might have been something to do with the 33m, 2500hp Cat 10 feet off his transom yesterday. Scruffy bugger.

post-1018-141887224459.jpg

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Thanks for the photo Pete.

 

Braver than me taking her offshore, but well done getting to Vanuatu in one piece.

 

Hopefully he reads the thoughts on the thread and realises there are different views to his own and he actually got away from NZ with a more than reasonable response from officials.

 

On the other hand, that might happen on the corner of wishful and thinking.

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Seriously how much effort does it require to coil a few ropes and scrub the rust stains off the Hull?

Of course laziness and lack of maintenance are going to ring a few alarm bells, I still think this guy is waiting for a place to happen.

It does of course speak volumes for the robustness of the original build.

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Well I like to post in this forum so at least everyone knows what is going on, and it can help people in the future maybe avoid similar problems. Also I quit replying on cruisers forum because the moderators delete and modify people's posts based on their own personal political views. Fortunately on this forum we can have a real discussion and maybe even agree to disagree.

 

A lot of people on yachts overstay their visas. I thought I would be treated the same as everyone else, but apparently in NZ, they target certain individuals, and tend to place burdens on the poorest members of society while allowing the wealthier ones more rights and freedoms.

 

I was very tired on arrival and didn't realize I anchored in a bad spot. Anyway I like to admit when I'm wrong and try to correct things.

 

To answer some questions:

 

If you don't like how your taxes are being spent, you have options:

1. Contact Gary and tell him to let people leave as it would save a lot of money and trouble on both sides.

2. Stop paying taxes.

 

I opted for the second option when I found out my country was bombing innocent people.

 

For visitors to New Zealand:

It is illegal to experience winter despite this being a very unique place and there being few options in the world to experience a Southern Hemisphere winter. Perhaps South America is the only options free from persecution. I wish I had known this before, so I hope someone can benefit from my mistake.

 

As for coiling ropes.. what is the point? You must uncoil them to use them so it is wasted effort. This type of inefficient logic continues to be suggested despite obviously having no value. I had no rust when I left NZ, obviously it comes back fast and does not cause any problem, washing it off is a wasted effort.

 

Now.. to hopefully answer some other questions and give you some feedback on what I think of NZ:

 

 

The natural beauty of the land is stunning, especially in the south island. There are many exotic plants and birds which are fascinating to experience. I had a wild robin land on my hand which was a magical experience. I can also say the marine life is in relatively good shape. There is a lot of life below the water away from populated areas compared to much of the rest of the world.

 

There are many un-crowded beautiful natural areas where one can anchor a boat for days or even weeks without concern, and a lot of interesting small islands to explore.

 

It is unsafe to travel by bicycle as there are few bike lanes, narrow winding roads with blind corners, and people drive fast and erratically. I was cut off by a bus in Wellington and forced to jump from my bicycle and run to avoid injury. There are many hiking tracks which are wonderful, but they are not well connected throughout the country making it difficult to travel on foot without walking along roads. Of course you can sail as I did, but it took me several weeks to get a weather window to reach the south island from the far north. The winds and seas along the way can be very intense. It is inconvenient or dangerous to travel in New Zealand.

 

In many places the cross-walk states that motor vehicles have right of way. This is evidence of a backward society and very insulting to pedestrians.

 

The petrolium trucks state: "Allied petrolium, never run out" and the toxic bottom paint for boats states "Clean boats, living seas" both of which show clear evidence of denial propaganda.

 

Much of the south island has recently been converted into a large-scale dairy farm 97% of which is exported. By the time this milk reaches China after being pasturized, the quality is greatly reduced, and a lot of energy is consumed. It would be more logical, productive and efficient to instead import 50 million chinese people and allow them to live in the south island so they may consume the product locally.

 

Now you may begin to understand the pressure being put on this land. It is not so clean and green as is claimed as it is supporting far more than the local population, especially considering how inefficient it is to produce milk compared to other food products. For every cow you can support two humans.

 

The farming practice greatly degrades the soil, at a rate by which it will be exhausted in 50-60 years. Daming of every major river greatly degrades water quality and natural beauty. This is an unsustainable practice, and is destined to fail catastrophically in this century. The people do not know how to manage the land properly. It is possible to support 50 million people, improve the environment and have more land devoted to natural areas, but these options are ignored to support an unsustainable lifestyle. Instead they have turned toward short term methods to maximize profit. There is no long term future in the current economy.

 

Wood treated with arsenic is still common even though it is banned from many other places as it is proven to be dangerous. This includes use in orchards and vineyards where arsenic is starting to be detected in the wine. This concentration will rise steadily in comming years. Treated wood is used all over natural areas to build steps and handrails on tracks for example where is it just beginning to leach into the soil, the extent of this damage will become apparent in the future as well.

 

In fact, New Zealand is well known for it's practice of spreading all sorts of toxic chemicals across the land, in many cases native bush, and using chemicals not typically used anywhere else which are extremely harmful to wildlife, and dangrous to humans.

 

Tree-farming with clear-cutting is still common practice which desecrates the land, leaving it infertile and unable to support native plants after three harvests. Massive erosion is obvious in the queen charlotte and pelourus sounds and devastates marine life below as well. It is very inefficient to plant a single species of trees in an area, as this forces nature to be out of balance on many fronts.

 

Youth are "huffing" butane or lpg, and smoking synthetic cannibis. I have witnessed this in person in Whangarei. They are excited by "chemicals" going to their head with little concern for what these chemicals actually are. In california the same type of kids would be smoking real cannibis. I have a real concern for the future generations in NZ. The older generation is much more sensible but is a dying breed.

 

The methylated spirits contains denatonium benzoate which is far more toxic than the normal use of methanol any other country uses. This "logic" of alternate additives holds for many common chemicals.

 

The society or cities and towns are nothing special and best avoided. Many negative influences from the USA have infiltrated NZ like McDonalds and KFC. For the most part it feels like the same country with different names.

 

Commodities are excessively expensive due to poor government decisions and high import taxes. For example, imported solar panels are highly taxed, while they are subsidised in California making them roughly twice as expensive.

 

In NZ, most students are required to wear a school uniforms. This is a form of repression and a grave mistake. It has negative implications throughout society. It suppresses free expression, free choice, comfort, and beauty in favor of uniformity and control. This trickles down into the mental state of the residents throughout their lives and causes them to make unfair decisions which causes additional repression, a vicious cycle. All people are not created equal, in fact just the opposite is true, everyone is unique. Trying to force people to be the same goes against natural order and is like sailing against the seas; it is not very efficient, is likely to cause damage, and is generally a waste of time.

 

This leads to the extreme feminism. I am talking about a case where an entire room in the house is devoted to non-males. This seems a bit odd to someone from a different country at first, but in fact is fairly sensible considering the level of repression and discrimination in this society.

 

I have never once witnessed any government official using sail or oar to power their boat. I have not seen a police officer using a bicycle. Maybe they do this in some parts, but it should be the norm not the exception. This a form of disrespect to the natural world by the authorities as they choose a means which causes needless environmental harm and over consumption of resources.

 

For example, after the officials insisted on hauling my boat for inspection, I explained that the travel lift causes pollution and it would be best to use the tides instead on the nearby poles which I could scull to. This request was denied, and they even refused to wait for the tide to change to allow me to sail to Opua. Instead towed my boat several miles against the tide causing even more pollution as they favor convenience and over consumption over doing what is right. When the boat arrived in front of the travel lift, there was an oil slick in the water as there often is in harbours around NZ.

 

I know, I sound very negative, but I see problems every which where I look in NZ. To be fair, I do think the USA has more problems and is even more corrupted, especially the federal government, and the fact that they have now "officially" denounced the constitutional rights, but these comments are of a different discussion. It has been a real shock to see so many people smiling in Vanuatu after being in New Zealand for so long. The people really are much happier and a lot more pleasant to interact with.

 

New Zealand, like anywhere else in the world is worth visiting.

 

Plants, birds, fish... the wildlife is unique.

 

It is best to avoid populated areas, be wary of the local people as many have bad intentions, and remain with nature.

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You have pointed out that we are a backward society. Then complain that police officers aren't riding bikes?

You also comment that you see problems everywhere you look with NZ?? Gee thanks but really most NZers are happy with what we have, and our values and what we seek are probably quite different to yours. I prefer my boat shiney, polished and well maintained... A bit like a girlfriend. Some like them scruffy, tatoo'd and hairy. I prefer them a bit tidier.

 

Maybe NZ Is just odd and have managed to grow out of the Hippy Regeme???

Hippy Power.jpg

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Well, BA, your post says a great deal more about you than it does about NZ. The vast majority of visitors to NZ (both sailors and non-sailors) seem to love coming here. Like all countries, we have some problems to deal with, but now that you have left, that makes one less. Good luck.

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Now he's in a developing nation that can ill afford visitors who don't contribute to the economy. Still,at least solar panels are cheap here eh.

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BA, how about we turn that diatribe about sustainability on its head, and consider what goes into building a fibreglass boat.

Failure to care for an object with a huge embedded energy and resource footprint, to the point someone will eventually chainsaw it and landfill the pieces, is just plain criminal.

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