Boaties behaving in the south
Southland boaties are reportedly behaving these holidays, with coastguard receiving no callouts and only a few minor issues with water users.
Southland harbourmaster Lyndon Cleaver said he had been extremely busy with many recreational boat users getting out onto Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri.
Boaties had been well behaved apart from one incident on Lake Te Anau involving ‘‘young teenagers and too much alcohol’’ in one of the water ski lanes, Cleaver said.
People were observing the rules, wearing their lifejackets and were carrying the necessary safety equipment on their boats, he said.
Several cruise ships had also visited Fiordland without any issues, Cleaver said.
A maritime assistant had been employed by Environment Southland to patrol areas such as the lower Oreti River and Bluff harbour, he said.
Deputy harbourmaster and Riverton Coastguard volunteer Ian Coard said there had been plenty of people on the water and at the beach in Riverton.
There had been no callouts for the Riverton Coastguard during the holiday period so far.
However, there were some concerns around jet ski users travelling too fast near the shore and paddle boarders not wearing lifejackets, he said.
Jet ski users had to travel at 5 knots when they were within 12 metres of the shoreline and beware of other people, Coard said.
If they had a mishap they end up injuring other people, he said.
Other than that, people were well behaved, Coard said.
Bluff Coastguard president Wayne Williams said there had been no callouts in Bluff.
Plenty of people had been getting out on the water on the fine days and they had all been behaving well, Williams said.