Unprepared boaties told to pay for sea rescue

Photo / supplied

Two Waikato brothers who took Western Bay Coastguard on a wild goose chase rescue on Sunday will be asked to contribute to the bill.

A weekend sea rescue cost Western Bay Coastguard about $3000 and 260 man hours, Murray Whitehead from Coastguard Waihi Beach said.

The Waikato brothers, aged 15 and 20, left Bowentown Boat Club about 5pm Saturday and travelled to Mayor Island in a 4m fibreglass boat. The pair stayed the night in South East Bay before returning to Waihi Beach about midday on Sunday.

The boat ran out of fuel and the brothers were rescued by Tauranga Coastguard and Coastguard Waihi Beach. They were found drifting off Karewa Island and A Beacon about 2.30pm on Sunday.

The boys would be sent a note that asked them to contribute to some of the costs involved in their rescue.

However the full cost of the exercise would never be recovered, he said.

"We ask for a reimbursement but we can't force them to pay," Mr Whitehead said.

Tauranga Coastguard operations manager Simon Barker said depending on circumstances, people would be asked to pay a donation for their rescue, otherwise the costs incurred would be covered by their operational funds. It also depended if police got involved, he said.

"We rely on volunteers and they generously donate their time so we have no direct cost on them and that helps keep costs down but our running charges are about $250 per hour. So this little exercise will cost a few thousand dollars in total," Mr Barker said.

Coastguard recouped some of their operational costs through membership, fundraising and donations.

Mr Whitehead said most people who had been helped by Coastguard happily paid a contribution to the cost incurred.

"We are not government funded so it is pretty hard [to generate funding]. We can't fine people but we can ask them to contribute.

"We will never get the whole cost back but 90 per cent of the people will happily make a contribution," he said.

Police were alerted to the search and rescue event but were not involved.

Mr Whitehead said the weekend incident served as a timely reminder for boaties to be well prepared before they headed out on the water.