Kiwis on patrol in Southern Ocean
The HMNZS Otago is negotiating the frigid swells of the Southern Ocean, on patrol for illegal fishing.
Before the New Zealand Defence Force vessel left Devonport Naval Base late last month, its crew undertook a week of training drills in the Hauraki Gulf. Lieutenant Commander Lorna Gray, the first female commanding officer of a Royal New Zealand warship, said it was vital to get her sailors ready for the inhospitable conditions off the coast of Antarctica.
‘‘So right now we’re busy training, I’ve got my beanie on and my gloves to get the muscle memory going of what it’s going to be like out in the cold weather,’’ she said on the deck of the ship as it roamed the gulf on one of its training days.
‘‘It’s just all about getting the team understanding that when they come out the door, they’ve got to put on their cold weather gear, so we don’t get stuck to guard rails and that sort of thing.’’
Since 1923 New Zealand has maintained a right of sovereignty over the Ross Dependency, a chunk of Antarctic territory.
New Zealand is also a member of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which protects the Antarctic marine ecosystem and manages sustainable harvesting.
Preparing to visit this hostile region, the crew suited up in cold water gear and were deployed to board dummy fishing vessels alongside Ministry for Primary Industries officers.
The crew would ultimately be boarding and inspecting real fishing vessels in the Southern Ocean.
Throughout its training days on the water, the crew’s evaluation team threw different scenarios at them – including the captain of one dummy vessel who struggled to speak English.
But Gray said by far the biggest hazard in the Southern Ocean was the freezing conditions and at times colossal waves.
The HMNZS Otago’s current crew will spend Christmas in the Southern Ocean, returning in the New Year.
Jet-skier dies
People on the water’s edge desperately waved and yelled to get the attention of jet-skiers to help a man who drowned on Saturday afternoon. The man was caught in swirling water after falling from his jet-ski in Canterbury’s Waimakariri River. Eventually the man was pulled to the riverside but he could not be revived.
Teacher drowns
Christchurch Boys’ High School physical education teacher Samuel Zarifeh died after falling from a raft into a West Coast river on Saturday. The 27-year-old was on a private rafting trip with a group of teachers from the school when their raft overturned on the Landsborough River, inland from Haast. Zarifeh’s body was located about 45 kilometres downstream.
Ute in fatal roll
Two men died after a ute rolled about 100 metres down a steep bank on remote Taranaki farmland. The accident happened on Saturday afternoon on a farm in Kohuratahi, in the Whangamomona Valley, about 76 kilometres inland from Stratford. Sergeant Lincoln McCrea said it appeared that the driver of the 4WD ute tried to navigate the vehicle along a ridge but the edge crumbled away, causing it to roll. The men, both from the east Taranaki area and aged in their 30s, were understood to have possibly been out pig-hunting at the time. McCrea said he understood one of the men worked on the farm where the accident happened and his friend was visiting him for the day.
Water crisis
A water crisis in the Waikato town of Morrinsville developed after a mains pipe at the town’s reservoir developed a major leak on Saturday. Workers were working to fix the leak while the 6000 residents were asked to not shower, wash clothes or flush loos ‘‘unless necessary’’, and to totally stop using water outdoors, especially for gardens and filling pools. However, it was possible the town’s water supply could run dry.