THE MOORING LINE - Waikato Regional Council
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July 2019
Issue 9
THE MOORING LINE
BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MARITIME SERVICES TEAM
AT WAIKATO REGIONAL COUNCIL
WELCOME IN THIS NEWSLETTER
Kia ora and welcome to the ninth edition of The Mooring Line. • Top ropes and how they can fail
There are more than 800 moorings in the Waikato, which means you are part of a large • Tairua – upcoming inspections
community of mooring owners – who may or may not live in the Waikato region. • Inter-regional Marine Pest Pathway
The Mooring Line newsletter is a helpful way to keep up to date with the region’s news, local discussion document
information and tips on ways to keep our beautiful harbours and inland waters safe for everyone. • Mooring for sale or rent? We can help
Please pass this newsletter on to anyone who is looking at renting or buying a mooring.
• Marine pest surveillance
Safe boating this season! • Kāwhia and Raglan moorings
The Maritime Services team • We love where we live
TOP ROPES AND HOW THEY CAN FAIL
In 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 An 8-strand multi-plait rope choked onto a rubber wrapped shackle. Multi-
in Flaxmill Bay. It was damaged against rocks and found on the seabed plait is preferable as the splices will not unlay when twisted.
near Ohinau Island.
CHAFE PREVENTION
Most 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
INSPECTIONS
Most 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 Services
Tairua
Mobile: 0274 581 860
Email: trojanmarineservices.tairua@gmail.com
INTER-REGIONAL
MARINE PEST PATHWAY
DISCUSSION DOCUMENT
Thanks 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.
MOORING FOR SALE OR RENT?
WE CAN HELP.
Better ways to stop marine pests? We are now offering mooring owners a new web service to list
Ētahi tikanga pai atu mō te ārai orotā ō te moana? your mooring for sale or rent. It’s simple to use, and an easy
way for renters or buyers to view essential information about
We want to hear from you! your mooring. The website also offers safe mooring tips to
Mauria mai o whakaaro!
help prevent mooring mishaps. See waikatoregion.govt.nz/
moorings-4-sale-or-rent for more information.
MARINE PEST SURVEILLANCE Cuvier Island
Marine pests, like Mediterranean fanworm, eudistoma, and
Port Charles
Asian paddle crab, are a real threat to the coastlines we all
love. They can have a big impact on our environment which
Great Mercury Island
then impacts our favourite past times like fishing, diving and
cruising. Marine pests are largely spread by biofouled vessel Kennedy Bay
Whangapoua
hulls, so the council conducts annual marine biosecurity
surveillance work at boating hotspots around our region. Coromandel/
Te Kapanga
This season we engaged with Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s Whitianga
dive team to check vessels and marine structures like marinas, Hahei marine reserve
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 Tairua
region’s west coast harbours: Raglan, Aotea and Kāwhia.
Slipper Island
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 Whangamatā
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 Mediterranean fanworm
away. Check out marinepests.nz for more information.
KĀWHIA AND RAGLAN MOORINGS
Over 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 Rosser Leighton Hobbs
021 0846 9023 021 0282 4512
adam.rosser@sdsdiving.com leighton.hobbs@sdsdiving.com
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.
ALWAYS CARRY
TWO FORMS
OF WATERPROOF
COMMUNICATIONS
www.waikatoregion.govt/waterproof-communications
H E TAIAO M AU R I O RA H EA LTHY E NVIR O NME NT For more information call Waikato Regional Council
on 0800 800 401 or visit waikatoregion.govt.nz.
H E Ō H AN GA PA KA R I ST R O NG E CO NO MY
H E HAP O R I H I H I R I V I BR A NT CO MMU NITIE S July 2019 (6265)
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