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Quickcat Collision - Eyewitness Account

Posted 13/09/2010 - 15:25 by Chris

Eyewitness Account from a passenger on the Sat 11 8.45pm Auckland to Waiheke ferry.

There were about 60 passengers in the Quickcat, some young children and babies, all on the lower deck. The upper deck was closed. The boat had left right on time and we were about ten minutes in the journey, when we heard a loud bang on the right side (sorry, I’m not a sailor) of the boat. My first impression was that we had hit something or perhaps an engine had exploded. But there was no smoke or burn smell so I went for the collision explanation. The boat came to a near halt. Some people went to the outside deck but we were told to remain seated, that it was an emergency and that there had been a collision.

The boat turned around. There was a lot of manoeuvring. Passengers were calm but a bit worried. The sea was quite rough. We were close to rocks and had no idea what condition our boat was in. We didn’t know with what we had collided at this stage. Two passengers were asked to help on the outer deck. When they came back we heard that two persons had been rescued from the sea, unhurt . Then we were told our boat would go back to Auckland to assess damage. At 9:30pm we pulled in in Auckland. Ports police came on board and took every passengers names and contacts. We were given $5 Fullers vouchers and put on the 10:15 boat to Waiheke.

Name withheld

Waiheke Ferry Breakdown Forces Mid-Harbour Transfer of Passengers

Posted 26/06/2009 - 11:27 by Countrymike

Last night (Thurs 25 June) the 8.45pm Auckland to Waiheke ferry suffered a breakdown that resulted in pasengers being transferred mid-harbour to another ferry. The following is an eyewitness report from one of the ferry passengers.

"It was a normal 8:45pm sailing and I headed upstairs on the Wanderer. Shortly after departure I popped down to the bar for the obligatory Merlot, Without warning I felt myself falling backwards as the boat suddenly lost all power. A cruise ship had just departed Auckland so I assumed we had slowed down to let it pass.

You think something is wrong when the men with the stripes on their shoulders start running backwards and forwards, you know something is wrong when all the lights go out.

So there we were, just off the container wharf, drifting powerless and lightless toward the shipping lane and the path of the departing cruise liner..

I went back to my merlot, placed a few tweats on a rapidly flattening phone,  observed other commuters texting and ringing loved ones, watched the cruise ship sail past; more men with stripes running backward and forward, now with torches, “shall I try restarting the genset?”, lights come on, drop anchor.

The Seaflyte returning from Half Moon Bay pulled alongside, we transferred via the wheelhouse and on our way back to Waiheke.

To the Fullers staff and crew: a big thumbs up for a well executed mid harbour manoeuvre in unusual circumstances and cheers for the free beer"

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