THE MOORING LINE - Waikato · community of mooring owners – who may or may not live in the Waikato region. The Mooring Line newsletter is a helpful way to keep up to date with the

IN THIS NEWSLETTER• Top ropes and how they can fail

• Tairua – upcoming inspections

• Inter-regional Marine Pest Pathway discussion document

• Mooring for sale or rent? We can help

• Marine pest surveillance

• Kāwhia and Raglan moorings

• We love where we live

THE MOORING LINEBROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MARITIME SERVICES TEAM AT WAIKATO REGIONAL COUNCIL

July 2019Issue 9

WELCOMEKia ora and welcome to the ninth edition of The Mooring Line.

There are more than 800 moorings in the Waikato, which means you are part of a large community of mooring owners – who may or may not live in the Waikato region.

The Mooring Line newsletter is a helpful way to keep up to date with the region’s news, local information and tips on ways to keep our beautiful harbours and inland waters safe for everyone. Please pass this newsletter on to anyone who is looking at renting or buying a mooring.

Safe boating this season!

The Maritime Services team

TOP ROPES AND HOW THEY CAN FAILIn late November last year, at first light, harbourmasters were advised that a 7 metre vessel landed on the rocks in Port Charles due to top rope failure. The mooring had only just been serviced a few weeks earlier but the top rope had unlaid and the splice failed. The rope the owner used had a very soft lay and was prone to unlay. Luckily the boat escaped with no major damage. The same cannot be said for the three vessels that broke free from their moorings in Flaxmill Bay over summer. One was tied incorrectly to the mooring, while the other two moorings were well overdue a service and the top chain broke. All three boats grounded, and the owners required assistance from harbourmasters and the local mooring service providers. One vessel was severely damaged and had to be retrieved from the seabed near Ohinau Island.

Top ropes are the most frequent source of mooring failure and owners are urgently advised to check them regularly for any signs of wear, chafing, twisting or other damage. It’s also important to use suitable ropes. Polyester rope can be stronger (has a greater breaking strain/load), doesn’t stretch, and has greater UV resistance than nylon or polypropylene. It is a non-floating rope so there is less likelihood of it being accidentally run over on the surface. Mooring experts recommend boat owners do not use thimbles, or just nylon ones. Generally, thimbles are galvanised and mixing them with saltwater causes them to rust away fairly quickly, resulting in rust impregnating the rope causing chafe, wear, or to become hard and brittle where it goes through a shackle, reducing the lifespan of the rope.

Trojan Marine Services retrieve a 6m boat that broke free from its mooring in Flaxmill Bay. It was damaged against rocks and found on the seabed near Ohinau Island.

An 8-strand multi-plait rope choked onto a rubber wrapped shackle. Multi-plait is preferable as the splices will not unlay when twisted.

CHAFE PREVENTIONMost moorings have a pickup rope or chain that can be attached to a convenient cleat. Ideally, this should pass over the bow roller, which may mean moving the anchor to somewhere else (either stowing it on deck or hauling it up on the pulpit). Any wind and tidal currents make the boats yaw and sail forward and back repeatedly, causing the top rope to wear rapidly as it moves over the roller. This wear on the rope can be reduced by having a rope protector sleeve (a plastic sleeve/hose) over the rope where it sits over the roller or fairlead. Rotating the plastic sleeve protector every so often to inspect it for any wear is recommended. Make sure the top rope is secured in the fairlead to prevent it coming out when the vessel pitches in heavy weather. If your vessel is being moored for the first time and the mooring is fitted with a top rope, make sure the protector is in the right position to suit your vessel. Last of all, make sure your vessel has been secured to the actual top rope or top chain. You would be surprised how many vessels we have found that have been left secured only to 10mm buoy ropes. Any mooring owner who has concerns about their mooring ropes should contact their local mooring contractor.

This vessel had been secured to a 10mm buoy rope, which failed. The pickup rope or chain should ideally pass over the bow roller and have a plastic sleeve in place to prevent chafing.

TAIRUA – UPCOMING INSPECTIONSMost Tairua mooring inspections will be due again in November 2019. Mooring owners must have their moorings inspected every three years to ensure they are safe to use and compliant with resource consent conditions, to avoid possible enforcement action. Waikato Regional Council will be engaging Trojan Marine Services (TMS) to inspect council-owned moorings. TMS will be available to service your mooring, too. Group inspections usually mean that a mooring service provider can offer a better rate, saving us all money. The council will be posting out reminder letters and booking forms on behalf of TMS in August. If your inspection is due, make sure you take advantage of the group service offer. Simply secure your spot with Trojan Marine Services by completing the booking form and sending it to TMS by September.

Trojan Marine ServicesTairua

Mobile: 0274 581 860

Email: [email protected]

Better ways to stop marine pests?Ētahi tikanga pai atu mō te ārai orotā ō te moana?

We want to hear from you!Mauria mai o whakaaro!

Coromandel/Te Kapanga

Whitianga

Tairua

Hahei marine reserve

Whangamatā

Port Charles

Kennedy Bay

Cuvier Island

Great Mercury Island

Whangapoua

Slipper Island

INTER-REGIONAL MARINE PEST PATHWAY DISCUSSION DOCUMENTThanks to everyone who submitted on the Inter-regional Marine Pest Pathway discussion document. Submissions closed on 24 May, and a summary report of submissions will be presented to the Strategy and Policy Committee of the regional council in July. Council staff will then work on some options for rules to prevent marine pests spreading to be presented to the new council in 2020. As the policy develops there will be plenty of opportunities for further input from marine stakeholders. To all those who submitted, thanks for helping the council move marine biosecurity forward.

MARINE PEST SURVEILLANCEMarine pests, like Mediterranean fanworm, eudistoma, and Asian paddle crab, are a real threat to the coastlines we all love. They can have a big impact on our environment which then impacts our favourite past times like fishing, diving and cruising. Marine pests are largely spread by biofouled vessel hulls, so the council conducts annual marine biosecurity surveillance work at boating hotspots around our region.

This season we engaged with Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s dive team to check vessels and marine structures like marinas, wharves, jetties and moorings, popular anchoring spots, and mussel and oyster farms. We generally check areas on the eastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula, where we see plenty of boats. But, for the first time, we also checked our region’s west coast harbours: Raglan, Aotea and Kāwhia.

WHAT DID WE FIND? Nothing. This means no marine pests for these areas, which is great news. However, the news on the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula is not so good. The natural spread of Mediterranean fanworm (Sabella spallanzanii) is continuing up the coast from the Coromandel Harbour. This recent check found it at Colville, up from Papa Aroha a couple of years ago.

Please help us to prevent their spread, and make sure your hull has been checked, cleaned and antifouled before heading away. Check out marinepests.nz for more information.

Mediterranean fanworm

MOORING FOR SALE OR RENT? WE CAN HELP. We are now offering mooring owners a new web service to list your mooring for sale or rent. It’s simple to use, and an easy way for renters or buyers to view essential information about your mooring. The website also offers safe mooring tips to help prevent mooring mishaps. See waikatoregion.govt.nz/moorings-4-sale-or-rent for more information.

For more information call Waikato Regional Council on 0800 800 401 or visit waikatoregion.govt.nz.

July 2019 (6265)

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ALWAYS CARRYTWO FORMS OF WATERPROOF COMMUNICATIONS

www.waikatoregion.govt/waterproof-communications

KĀWHIA AND RAGLAN MOORINGSOver summer, mooring owners in Kāwhia and Raglan engaged SP Diving Solutions to inspect and service their moorings. Leighton Hobbs, from SP Diving, said the team inspected 25 moorings and installed 15 new moorings from December 2018 to April 2019.

“We found that every mooring system we inspected needed either large amounts of tackle to be replaced or a full system replacement including the mooring blocks. In some cases, we found top chains had deteriorated to 7mm, down from 20mm, which led us to attaching anodes onto the chain at the owner’s request, as well as replacing top ropes which were only held together by a few threads.”

SP Diving Solutions employs divers to clean, inspect and replace mooring tackle where necessary, and can even install completely new mooring systems as required by the mooring owner. They are easy to contact and happy to answer any questions regarding moorings, prices and appropriate moorings for tidal flow. For more information, see their contact details below.

SP diving solutions ltd New Zealand www.spdivingsolutions.co.nz

Dive operations managers

Adam Rosser021 0846 [email protected]

WE LOVE WHERE WE LIVE. That’s why we work so hard to look after our region – the mighty Waikato – and the people who live and work here.

Our work is as diverse as the region we care for, which is from the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula to the slopes of Mt Ruapehu.

And it’s not just Maritime Services that works to improve the areas that boaties enjoy. Check out waikatoregion.govt.nz/coast to see what other coastal work is being done by the regional council.

Leighton Hobbs021 0282 [email protected]