Rescuers claim ownership of ocean rower's boat

Luckless British rower Jim Shekhdar is back on land and embroiled in a row over the ownership of his boat, the Hornette.

Mr Shekhdar, 57, arrived in Wellington yesterday on the Government-owned research ship Tangaroa, which rescued him from the Southern Ocean three weeks ago.

He had been attempting to become the first person to row solo from New Zealand to South Africa.

He was two weeks into his journey when he phoned for help after he was hurt when his 7.8m fibreglass boat rolled in a storm 1200km east of Bluff.

The Tangaroa, run by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), was diverted 350 nautical miles (about 650km) to pick him up.

The rescue was estimated to have cost Niwa several thousand dollars. An Air Force Orion was also sent to act as spotter at a cost of about $100,000.

Niwa is now claiming ownership of the boat in an effort to recoup some of its costs.

Under international law it was required to rescue Mr Shekhdar, but is claiming his boat is salvage, to which it is entitled.

Mr Shekhdar said the boat could not be salvage as it was not abandoned and was still seaworthy. He planned to ship it back to Britain.

"Obviously there's a cost to do a rescue like this but you can't squeeze blood out of a stone," he said.

He was already in debt and could not get insurance cover for the journey.

He met with Niwa management yesterday to try to resolve the dispute. No agreement was reached.

He had yet to make a decision about whether he would try again to row to South Africa. He planned to return home on Monday and would consider the future over Christmas.

"I'm more convinced than I was before that it can be done and this is the design of boat to do it."

Mr Shekhdar also met Maritime Safety Authority officials yesterday to discuss his rescue.

The authority had threatened to use legislation to stop him trying again, but director Russell Kilvington said that any proposal would be assessed on its merits.

Mr Shekhdar had promised to keep the authority informed of any future attempts.

"But our view is that it's probably unwise. We believe that the deep Southern Ocean could be just a bridge too far for this sort of adventure," Mr Kilvington said.

Rescue me

October 17: A tug is sent from Bluff to tow Jim Shekhdar's 7.8m fibreglass boat back in after one of his three global positioning satellite instruments failed and his wind generator broke down 8km from Kaka Pt in South Otago.

November 19: The Government-owned research vessel Tangaroa picks up the injured Shekhdar about 1200km from Bluff in the South Island after his vessel by a storm.

- NZPA