Tugboat gets stuck in Weiti River
A ship is having an extended stay in the picturesque Weiti River after running aground just off Stillwater.
The tug boat York Syme got stuck in the mud on the Stillwater side of the river around the time of the 11am high tide on March 16, Stillwater resident Graham Willis says.
The retired navy chef says it was bad timing on the skipper’s part as, from his tide calculations, the 29 metre vessel won’t be able to refloat until March 30. The high tide the day the boat stranded was 3.2 metres and then began dropping to below 3m.
‘‘So he won’t be able to float that off till March 30 because that is the next 3.5 metre high tide. And that’s only giving him 100 millimetres extra water to lift him off depending on what time or how close to the high tide, before or after it, that he went in. If he went in after the high tide, that’s on his good side because it will be higher,’’ Willis says.
Auckland harbourmaster Captain Andrew Hayton says the York Syme had been undergoing maintenance at Stevensons yard further up the river and was heading back to Bayswater Marina.
The York Syme is no stranger to becoming stuck in the waters of the Hauraki Gulf.
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission investigated an incident when it ran aground in the gulf on November 13, 1997.