Waikato skipper fined after boat capsizes in Raglan - ‘Could have resulted in fatalities’

A boatie has been fined $900 after dangerously driving a boat into a wave, resulting in the vessel launching into the air before landing on its side.

As the boat took on water at Raglan’s Manu Bay, video shows another wave smashing into the vessel and capsizing it.

In the December 11 incident, one passenger was tossed into the rough Raglan sea, while skipper Maurice Johnson and another passenger were trapped within a small air pocket in the cabin.

Luckily, all three men managed to inflate their life jackets and returned to shore. The boat didn’t fare so well, ending up on rocks, badly damaged.

Waikato skipper Maurice Johnson has been fined $900 after capsizing a boat at Manu Bay. Photo / Waikato Regional Council

This week Johnson was fined $900 in the Hamilton District Court after the Waikato Regional Council laid a charge under the Maritime Transport Act of causing unnecessary danger.

“This incident could easily have resulted in three fatalities,” the council’s regional compliance manager Patrick Lynch said.

Coastguard records show Johnson had previously entered the sea at Manu Bay 154 times.

“He is clearly very experienced, but this incident shows that complacency can have dire results in a maritime setting.”

The council said around the time the boat was launched, no other vessel had or was attempting to launch from Manu Bay because of the sea conditions.

Johnson pleaded guilty to the charge and Judge Paul Geoghegan noted he had since made a $1000 donation to the Raglan Coastguard.

Ethan Griffiths covers crime and justice stories nationwide for Open Justice. He joined NZME in 2020, previously working as a regional reporter in Whanganui and South Taranaki.