Grounded yacht looks set for chop
An unnamed yacht that ran aground on a Christchurch beach may have to be chopped up for removal. The vessel ran aground at New Brighton Beach, about 250m north of the pier, around 6.30pm on Wednesday.
The Canterbury regional harbourmaster, Ian Fox, said the ferro-cement recreational boat that he estimated would weigh 25-30 tonnes grounded on quite a high spring tide. An earlier attempt at refloating it with a digger was abandoned after the digger also became stuck in the sand.
“The chance of refloating it is extremely slight. There are very few vessels in New Zealand capable of pulling something like that off the beach without undue risk.”
That was likely to mean the only way of removing it was to drag it up the beach for a crane to lift it onto a truck. It might be too large to do this without breaking it into sections.
Fox said it wasn’t clear why the boat had run aground. He understood from witnesses that it had been sailing south toward Lyttelton Harbour with a northeasterly blowing from behind. The wind died and the boat’s motor couldn’t be started, leaving the vessel to drift ashore.
The boat’s owner and sole occupant, a man, swam ashore on Wednesday night and was taken to hospital to be checked over. Friends of the sailor told locals that the man had been sailing around New Zealand and that he had heart issues.
Fox understood the man had been discharged from hospital but hadn’t yet been able to talk with him about his plans for the boat’s removal.
Locals on the beach yesterday suggested multiple colourful theories on how it became stranded.
“I think he was just a bit clueless,” one said. Another questioned why the yacht had no name on its side, or any identifying features.
“It’s all a bit odd,” she said.