‘Crazy Horse’ skipper with ‘dicky’ autopilot loses boat
After hours of sailing a 14-metre fishing vessel on ‘‘an extremely erratic’’ course up the coast towards Christchurch, skipper David ‘‘Crazy Horse’’ Atkinson was lost.
It was 9pm, he was not sure where he was, and he had only rudimentary knowledge of how to use the navigational equipment.
His crew aboard the Debbie Jane consisted of a 41-year-old woman and a 73-year-old retired school teacher – neither had any commercial fishing experience.
In the distance Atkinson saw what he believed were the lights of Cheviot. But he was 110km away, off Waimairi Beach, northeast of Christchurch.
By 11.30pm, two police constables were on the beach, watching the trawler sail in circles through heavy swells.
It then straightened and headed directly towards the shore, where it grounded, listed to one side, tilted, capsized and then righted itself.
A rescue helicopter was deployed but weather conditions made it impossible to winch anyone from the vessel, so an intensive care paramedic swam out to bring the three people on board to the shore one by one. The male crew member suffered hypothermia and the Debbie Jane was unsalvageable.
Days after the incident on December 21, 2019, Atkinson told a Press reporter ‘‘it was no-one’s fault’’, and that the atmosphere and conditions were to blame.
However, earlier this week he pleaded guilty in the Christchurch District Court to breaches under the Health and Safety at Work Act, and the Maritime Transport Act.
According to the summary of facts, Atkinson, who was 66 at the time, held a ring-fenced coastal launch masters certificate and had spent two years as a skipper of crayfishing vessels in Gisborne, as well as two years crewing a tuna fishing vessel in Australia. In 2004, he stopped working as a fisherman apart from working two days as a skipper in April 2018. That employment was terminated early due to concerns about his ability.
In December 2019, the owner of the Debbie Jane asked Atkinson to skipper the boat from Akaroa Harbour to Nelson, fishing for tuna on the way. The day before departure, the owner gave Atkinson a tour of the vessel and told him the autopilot was ‘‘a bit dicky’’. The vessel left Akaroa at 11am on December 21. By the time it reached the Akaroa Heads, the autopilot had malfunctioned and Atkinson was navigating by sight.
At one point the boat passed about 70m from dangerous rocks at Sumner Head before proceeding on ‘‘an extremely erratic course’’ up the coast.
By 11pm, the female crew member called 111 and said Atkinson was having difficulty breathing and was ‘‘steering the vessel in circles’’. She could not identify the trawler and did not know if there were flares or an emergency locator beacon on board but police were able to track her phone to Waimairi Beach. Atkinson later told investigators he navigated the Debbie Jane to shore because he was not sure where he was. He will be sentenced in August.