Manaia keeps up duties as funds sought for bigger boat

Whangaroa Coastguard's replacement boat is lifted onto a truck after a crash on State Highway 10. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A Coastguard boat which needed rescuing after an accident on State Highway 10 turned rescuer a few days later when its crew saved a sinking launch.

Whangarei's old rescue boat, Manaia, was being towed to Whangaroa Harbour on January 11 when police said its trailer was hit by a ute attempting a U-turn north of Waipapa. The boat was not damaged but had to continue its journey on the back of a truck because two wheels had been torn off its trailer.

Manaia was being sent north as a replacement for Whangaroa Rescue, which scraped its hull during the search for a missing diver at Cable Bay.

Whangaroa Coastguard president Bob Kidd said Manaia reached its destination later that night without further drama, and was involved in a serious rescue the following weekend.

A 10m launch was sinking off the southern end of the Cavalli Islands with two people on board after a coolant hose split and the bilge pump failed.

The skipper had lined up a spot to beach the vessel when Manaia arrived and its skipper, a diesel mechanic by trade, managed to jury rig a pump and save the boat. Manaia had a portable pump on board but conditions were too rough to transfer it between the vessels.

Mr Kidd said the unit was expecting to get Whangaroa Rescue back this week. It was transported to Whangarei on Friday for work on its gearbox after repairs to its hull were completed in Waipapa. Manaia was a "very strong little boat" but at 6.8m it was too small for rescues in some conditions.

Meanwhile, Whangaroa Coastguard is fundraising for a new and bigger vessel. The 8.5m Whangaroa Rescue, which was built in 1999 for Team New Zealand's America's Cup campaign and donated to Coastguard the following year, was one of the oldest boats in the organisation's fleet.

"So far we've got about $200,000 together, which is not bad for a unit that's only had a boat since 2009," Mr Kidd said.

The group would soon be in a position to start approaching the major funding organisations. The new boat would be 10m. Whangaroa Coastguard covers the area from the Cavalli Islands to Cape Karikari, including all of Doubtless Bay.

Following the January 11 crash Senior Constable Felicity Beckett, of Kerikeri police, urged drivers to always look over their shoulders before attempting a U-turn.