KEY POINTS:
Yacht crew members who sparked a $20,000 maritime rescue because they "mutinied" against their more experienced skipper have donated $14,000 to the helicopter services that saved them.
The crew were last night reluctant to speak about the donation as they were unsure if skipper Bill Heritage would bring any legal action against them after they made him leave his yacht - worth more than $24,000 - at sea.
Mr Heritage told the Herald he did not intend suing any of the crew but still held them accountable for the loss and thought they should pay him for the boat.
Last month Nelson residents Carl Horn, John Lammin and Sharan Foga were helping Mr Heritage take his 7.9m sloop, Air Apparent, from Auckland to Nelson, going around Cape Reinga.
The group had been enjoying smooth sailing until the weather began closing in on Monday, March 24. By Tuesday afternoon, conditions had deteriorated and seas were rough.
The yacht's motor and the radio were also not working. Fatigued, seasick and becoming worried for their safety, the crew members acted against Mr Heritage's wishes and set off an emergency locator beacon.
"We mutinied, as he put it," Mr Horn told the Herald after the incident.
Crew from the Auckland Westpac rescue helicopter, who initially responded to the beacon, were endangered during the callout because the yacht was further away than the beacon showed.
The Northland Electricity rescue helicopter had to be called in to winch the group to safety from about 120km off the Kaipara coast because the Westpac helicopter had reached its fuel limitations and had to return to Auckland.
The cost of the callout exceeded $20,000 and Northland helicopter chief pilot Pete Turnbull said he believed it could have been avoided.
Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust chief executive Rea Wikaira told the Herald last night that Mr Lammin and Ms Foga had donated $7000 to Westpac and $7000 to the Northland helicopter service to compensate for the rescue.
"It's an unusual precedent. A rescue like that does cost a lot of money and for them to come back with it is great."
Ms Foga would not comment about the reasons for donating the money.
"I don't really want to talk about it. We are still waiting to see if there's going to be any legal action," she said.
"The donation indicates that they saved our lives really ... I just don't want to comment further because we don't know what the legal situation is."
But Mr Heritage said he did not want to drag the issue through the courts.
He had been friends with Mr Horn for 26 years before the incident but had spoken to him only once since.
"I said 'I think you should recognise the consequences and pay for the yacht.' I'm convinced their actions caused the loss of the boat. There was no good reason to abandon it."
