New radio rule for NZ yachts heading offshore

Ocean-going yachts registered in New Zealand will soon not be allowed to leave the country if they do not have long-range radios installed.

Maritime New Zealand said today that by the end of the year it would insist on high frequency (HF) radio transmitters being installed in all yachts, or they would not get a Category One clearance allowing them to depart for overseas.

Overseas-registered yachts would not be included because they fell outside the jurisdiction of Maritime New Zealand, spokesman Lindsay Sturt said.

Expensive searches have been held in the Pacific recently for two yachts which did not have HF communications and could not communicate with New Zealand.

The yacht Bluenose disappeared on its way to Tonga last month but was later found after it had been blown off course.

In the last few days an Air Force crew has been searching for the Australian trimaran Manoah after it failed to arrive in Rarotonga several weeks after leaving Nelson on June 8.

Rescue authorities said neither yacht had HF radios aboard, although they did have short-range very high frequency (VHF) radios and emergency beacons.

Mr Sturt said Maritime New Zealand would insist on HF radios for all New Zealand registered, ocean-going yachts by the end of the year.

He said new HF radios were expensive but second-hand radios could be bought for a few hundred dollars.

"Any form of improved communication makes life easier for the Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCCNZ) if a yacht gets into trouble," he said.

Yachts were already inspected to make sure they were sound, had a VHF radio and an emergency locator beacon, and the crews were competent, before they received Category One clearance to leave.

The search for Manoah was called off after the Air Force searched 370,000 square nautical miles.

Mr Sturt said there was little else RCCNZ could do without a tighter search area and it was hoped the yacht had been blown off course in June storms and was still making a slow passage to Rarotonga.

Family and friends of Nelson woman Verona Hunt and her Australian partner Gary Cull have said they are optimistic the missing trimaran would be found, but rescue authorities said they are now "very concerned for their safety".

- NZPA