Quickcat skipper fined over crash

The skipper of a Fullers Quickcat ferry has been fined $3500 after his craft and another collided in dense fog on the Waitemata Harbour last year.

The collision startled the 109 passengers aboard the Quickcat which left Waiheke Island bound for Auckland shortly after 9 am on May 31.

The skipper, David Owen Jones, put the engines hard astern when the Quickcat II appeared out of the fog.

But the engines stalled and the ferries collided.

Maritime Safety Authority prosecutor Adam Hopkinson told the North Shore District Court yesterday that Jones had not taken appropriate action, including reducing his speed, to avoid the collision.

Jones pleaded guilty to two charges of operating a vessel in a manner causing unnecessary risk and was fined $1750 on each by Judge Sharon McAuslan.

Quickcat II skipper Geffrey Bryan Dazeley was fined $3000 in January for his part in the accident.