Sept. - Oct. 2011 - The Coastal Passage Home Page

Hi Dave, maritime case law be subordinate to very good feature in the E-TCP #48 called “Hit and Motor
DRINKING AT ANCHOR RE-VISITED
international convention? Could it be Away”. This is good info for anyone sailing to the region.
This issue was covered very well in that MSQ has it wrong? Shocker! Say it Thanks Dave!!
Bob,
TCP # 41 by Andrew Crawford. He isn’t so!
outlines the confusion you note. We Hi Bob,
Having been breathalysed twice in the last 12 also got a letter in response to TCP will include the article by Andrew
months while at anchor in a safe bay Andrews article published in TCP # 42 Crawford in the E-TCP of this edition. Just was reading the latest TCP and found the article on the
anchorage in the Whitsunday's and firmly that made a good point. We have It’s very good. saga of Peggotty particularly interesting. About 3 years back
anchored to the sea floor, I comment as inserted the letter below. we found a nice Australian Registered, built and owned
follows:
Cheers, v e s s e l s i t t i n g f o r s a l e i n
In Qld they say: a "boat" which is a vessel for
conveying people and other items on water, is
GO GET THOSE BALLS Bob Langkawi, Malaysia. We were interested in buying her, and
made an offer which the owner was interested in. The local
in fact a "vehicle" which is an item of
equipment used for conveying people and
Hi TCP,
Hi Bob, broker was insistent that we would have no problems if we
just sailed her back to Oz and changed the Registration
other items on land. In reference to Forum in 41st edition
I was reading Coastal Passage and saw
Well it is supposed to be all about equality on March-April on Drinking Yachting and
a few comments on the garden lights.
land and water I am told. Anchoring by Andrew Crawford, the
Sailing in Malaysia and Thailand has
However. 4 people travelling in a large following is worthy of note:
its difficulties, if you are around tourist
camper van (a cruising boat on the road with When anchoring for "sundowners"
areas there is a procession of new
wheels) pull into a roadside parking bay. with the intention of staying the night,
fiberglass runabouts from post tsunami
Keys are removed from the ignition and all then the anchoring procedure of
fun din g. The y all hav e mas siv e
four move to the back, playing cards and hoisting, in line, two balls or round
outboards on the back and run flat out
getting more than a few grogs down them. shapes, should take place in
day and night carrying tourist of all
They then stay in the parking bay until well accordance with regulations, Rule 27
Nationalities around the usual Touristy
and truly sober the next day. "No Law broken". (a) (ii) signifying that the vessel is NOT
sites. They will pass under your bows
No one has to be "In Command" of the UNDER COMMAND.
with 2 metres to spare day or night while
"Vehicle". But what if the hand break cable If the vessel needs to be shifted, the
you are underway or worse still roar by
snaps? What if there is a storm or flash flood, radio can be used to request
you when you are in your little dinghy
they may have to move. Not an issue. No Law assistance from someone (not under
dodging between anchored yachts to
Broken. Conversely, 4 people travelling in a the influence) to do so. I have these
keep away from them.
privately owned recreational live aboard on board my vessel to advise the
I was shown a large catamaran which
cruising boat "a vehicle" (bare boats are authorities, however to date have not
has a patch in the inside of the one of the
exempt from these laws it seems) pull in to a had to do so.
hulls where a runabout had ploughed in
secluded well protected and sheltered bay, In short you have to have the balls to
to it at night. The catamaran had the
the skipper pulls his anchor in deep and hard, exercise and advise of your rights.
required masthead light operational but
paying out ample scope for any change in
the marine authorities commented that
details when we got back. I wasn't so sure and spent ages
phoning and writing to both Customs and ATO to try and get a
clear picture of what the true situation was. It took ages to get
a straight answer - most of the public servants that I talked to
had no idea.
Finally, (after weeks of enquiries) it became clear that, if we
were honest with Customs on return (& who isn't?), we would
have to pay GST. By this stage, the owner had lost patience
with us due to the time it had taken to get a clear answer from
ATO and Customs and he called off the sale. We were sad to
miss out on a very nice boat, but not to miss out on the
hassles it was going to involve. All's well that ends well and
we finally found our perfect cruising boat 5 minutes from
home a few months later, while the other owner found that he
did have time to sail his boat back to Darwin.
Cheers,
Peter McHugh,
SV Honey Bee
weather.
Two days later a RIB pulls up with a Primary
Industries Person and one Police Officer on
board. The PI asks, “Been here long?” “Only
a couple of days.” “Staying long?” “At least
another couple of days.” “Who is the owner of
the boat?” “I am.” “So you are "In Command”
of the boat? “No we are at safe anchor, no one
is "In Command" “Well some one has to be In
Command at all times.”
I said, “I dispute that." Having had 3 beers
while fishing I called on my wife as the person
In Command. and she blew into the test
machine.
Where is the equality? The next thing will be,
if you own a waterfront home or a home which
could be subject to flash flooding, then you
must stay under the legal alcohol limit in case
you have to evacuate.
When is this country and its legislative
bureaucrats going to ease up on the
population, or do we all have to move to
Russia or China to get a little more freedom?
So for the purpose of the law, a Vehicle is not
necessarily a Vehicle if it is not a boat and as
such does not have to have someone in
command, however a boat is a Vehicle and
being a Vehicle, has to have someone in
command at all times. Confused? I am.
Dave Williams,
MV Merdeka
Regards,
it was too high to be seen by the skipper
Ian Lechmere,
of the runabout. That is to say it's your
SY Arum "n" Ared
fault and you pay up. If you sail around
Thailand and Malaysia the runabouts
Good one Ian, now here is the quote
and a lot of fishing boats have green,
from USC ColRegs rule 27;
red, blue or white flashing light,
(a) Vessels not under command A
relatively cheap runs on 2A sized
vessel not under command shall
batteries with a light sensor on them so
exhibit: (i) two all-round red lights in a
they just have them on day and night.
vertical line where they can best be
Good idea if you don't want to navigate
seen; (ii) two balls or similar shapes in
up a channel. Oh well, the truth being
a vertical line where they can best be
there would not be any navigation lights
seen; and (iii) when making way
operating anyway except for major
through the water, in addition to the
shipping channels.
lights prescribed in this paragraph,
I was warned by the local yachties to
sidelights and a sternlight.
put some garden lights on my push pit
and pulpit but I resisted for about 3
So according to international
months until I had one boat go by me
regulations that Australia is a party to
when I was on anchor in the evening
as far as I know, not only can a ship be
with about a metre to spare. He must
“not under command” but it can be in
have been travelling about 30 knots with
that state whilst navigating ((iii)
14 people on board. After that I bought
above). And of further interest to a lot
2 garden lights for my bow and stern.
of the cruising fleet in the same rule;
Now I also hoist a flashing Blue light
(g) Vessels of less than 12 meters in
about 5 metres of the deck.
length A vessel of less than 12 meters
So the 4 garden light is for the mad
in length, except when engaged in
runabout skipper, the flashing lights
diving operations, is not required to
alerts them that a boat is close the rest is
exhibit the lights or shapes prescribed
history.
in this Rule.
That is my input to Coastal Passage,
The argument that MSQ would use to
David Montgomery
claim otherwise seems wobbly.
Wouldn’t some interpretation of local
TCP Note: David was referring in part to
a
The Fridge Police?!
TCP
Incredible statement by the minister! (below):
“Main Roads, Fisheries and Marine InfrastructureThe
Honourable Craig Wallace 18/08/2011
Hooked a good catch? Know the possession limits
Whether they're in your freezer or fresh off your hook, rules
apply to the amount of fish you can have in your possession
at any given time.
Fisheries Minister Craig Wallace and said possession and
size limits applied to all recreational fishing catches in
Queensland.
"A 'possession' or 'bag' limit refers to the total number of fish
an individual can legally take and have in their possession at
any one time - it does not apply on a per-day basis," Mr
Wallace said.
"This includes the fish you have caught previously that are in
your freezer at home, camp site or in your caravan," (TCP
emphasis) he said.
Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol (QBFP) district
officer Robert Ibell said these limits were in place in
Queensland to ensure sustainable recreational fishing for
the future.
"It's important that recreational fishers practice ethical and
responsible behaviour when using a limited natural
resource," he said.
"Possession limits aim to conserve heavily exploited species
and to conserve those that are susceptible to capture.
"They also allow catches to be shared more equitably
amongst fishers and reduce the illegal marketing of fish.”
Peter H
Hi Peter,
We did verify the press release you forwarded and agree,
incredible! “Home, Campsite or .. caravan”. Even fisheries
officers would probably not have the guts to knock on
someone's door and demand to see their freezer.
Curiously absent from the list of freezer locations was
cruising yachts which fisheries have asserted the power to
board at times in past to check for fish. According to legal
information published in TCP # 47 fisheries does not have
that power except as permitted by the commander of the
vessel.
To quote in part: You are not required to consent to them
(fisheries) coming aboard your vessel (see s475I TIA).
If you do not consent they may then obtain a warrant to enter
and exercise a number of powers including search,
inspection, taking documents etc.
So watch what you say! You may state for the record you do
not permit boarding and if possible, record it.
Cheers,
Bob