Sea trials for new Coastguard boat

By ROBIN BAILEY

The pride of Auckland Volunteer Coastguard is safely berthed at the Marine Rescue Centre in Mechanics Bay.

The result of much planning and a great deal of fundraising and product sponsorship, the 14.6m Naiad RIB proved its sea-keeping capabilities on the voyage from the builder's yard in Picton up the east coast to Auckland.

Custom-built as the mothership of the Auckland rescue fleet, the big RIB is now undergoing sea trials as its 30-person volunteer crew go through familiarisation training.

"We are thrilled with the boat," says Coastguard president John Cowan. "It's going to extend our search and rescue capabilities and allow us to provide a better and safer service, particularly in rough or difficult conditions. Without the sponsorship we have received from the Team New Zealand 2000 Trust, the ASB Community Trust, the Lion Foundation and the product assistance provided for almost everything on the boat, it would have been impossible to add more than $1 million worth of seagoing asset to our fleet."

Naiad managing director Steve Schmidt says his team had a number of design challenges to overcome meeting the tough specifications for the boat.

"John Cowan and Brooke Archbold have considerable experience of operating in the Hauraki Gulf and had strong ideas on how the boat should be laid out," he says. "They gave us a fairly complete concept of how it should operate and even look. Fortunately, they also gave us enough flexibility to design around that concept. One of the big hurdles was getting maximum visibility from the helm for both the forward and aft decks.

"Positioning the electronics was another challenge. They even built a plywood mock-up of the whole helm area to ensure everyone understood what it would look like and how accessible the equipment was. That was a good move as there were no nasty surprises. Everything works as it should throughout the boat."

The big RIB is powered by two Caterpillar 420hp diesels. The propellers are Henley Tigers and the electronics are by Raymarine. Cruising speed is 25 knots and the fuel capacity is 1500 litres.

Lion Foundation Rescue joins the existing fleet of RIBs, the former UK Waveney lifeboat based at Waiheke and the big volunteer fleet that help to make the Hauraki Gulf safe for everyone, whether members of Auckland Volunteer Coastguard Service or not.