Cruisers seeking humanitarian refuge in NZ

[RaymondR]

A lot of this excessive regulation is panic stricken responses by second class, poll driven, politicians who are more mindful of the prattling catastrophism of a third class media than they are of practical, common sense solutions.

Planning and executing a major ocean voyage on a small vessel is often the work of decades and for many circumnavigators the greatest achievement of their lives. For the folks caught up in this man made disaster having their entire sailing schedule disrupted is not just an inconvenience.

If they cannot figure out how to allow a relatively small number of mariners to quarantine on vessels capable of extended self sufficiency in a secure haven, which NZ is prolifically blessed with, they should not be running a country.

[Tillsbury]

There is already a facility in NZ for ship’s crew to arrive and be repatriated — there are corridors arranged whereby they can land and be escorted (isolated) to the nearest international airport for their flight, or kept in government run quarantine facilities until their flight goes. This is done for humanitarian reasons for all cargo ship crew. Plenty of safe places to have your boat hauled and kept safe for long periods.

Now if the yachties actually just want to be allowed into nz through the back door as if their cruise was unhindered, that’s a different matter and not “humanitarian” at all.

We’ve already proved that we don’t have the facilities to stop entitled-feeling cruisers sailing around wherever they choose when they’re supposed to be staying put, so I’m afraid that the well-behaved cruisers will be paying the price of that.

[barcoo]

While we are at it does Pine Gap jog any memories.

[Montanan]

I perceive that they could make arrangement to just put their vessels on the hard and repatriate by flying home, or stay on the land in a rental accommodation. Return when the epidemic has been resolved and travel restrictions lifted, say 2022.

[ejs]

The issue in NZ is really that we have eliminated COVID here completely with a hard lockdown and huge effort in contact tracing. We are still contact tracing a bit, but no one needs to do physical distancing or wear a mask here, so unless you work in tourism, life is mostly back to normal. The only new cases now are returning Kiwis in managed isolation. Managed isolation is currently funded by the government, and there still have been a few people who have escaped and wandered around for awhile before being arrested. Fortunately only one of those tested positive, but they required a city block and a supermarket to be deep cleaned. The government initially tried self policed isolation at home for returning Kiwis, and so many failed to be home when they were supposed to be that they abandoned that program. No one wants to go back to lockdown.

Sadly, the rest of the world is still coping with large numbers of new cases, and in the US in particular (where I’m from BTW) large numbers of people are refusing to take even simple precautions to stop the spread. American yachties are likely being lumped in the same category. The government here wants to manage the risk of re-infection so they are considering who they let in and who they don’t very carefully, which is why the borders are currently closed. BTW the yachties are a tiny revenue generator compared, say, to the 2 million estimated visiting skiers that are currently shut out of the slopes on the south island.

[AiniA]

A similar situation existed in the Caribbean and arrangements were made to allow boats into Grenada for hurricane season. It was spearheaded by the yacht industry in the country.

[patprice]

All in all, a very complex and intriguing situation. I hope the stress is not too great and solutions are found.
How many yachts are involved? My uneducated guess 150?

[atoll]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

The vast majority of the yachties that arrive in NZ are well funded and are simply wanting to do what they would have been doing anyway...

They ( foreign yachts )pump a massive slab of cash into NZ every year.

Repatriate me from any SW Pacific nation , Australia, or NZ to north america or europe? Struth... you would have to catch me first and I wouldn't go quietly.

lets hope it stays that way,ie that peoples savings and investments don't evaporate.

what happens when visas run out,will new zealand let these people stay indefinitely?

its not unlikely that island nations will still be locked down come april when next season starts .

then visas run out and people can't leave by yacht so have to fly home,then can't return,or have left their yacht in nz for cyclone season and can't return as they are from a high transmission risk part of the world.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by IslandInfedel

Why do Australians have such a issue with Americans?

I can’t recall meeting a American who really had strong feelings, of any sort, for Australians

Odd

You do realise that Ann is an American, don't you ?
Although they both have been welcomed here for years and I suppose are therefore honorary Aussies.

[JPA Cate]

Actually, although the Americans COULD get to US territory, the humanitarian reason to stay in NZ is as El Pinguino suggested: Much more likely to catch Covid 19 back in the States!

If only they could be counted on to properly follow whatever restrictions would be placed on them. There, the track record is already sullied, unfortunately.

Ann

[Tillsbury]

Originally Posted by atoll

lets hope it stays that way,ie that peoples savings and investments don't evaporate.

what happens when visas run out,will new zealand let these people stay indefinitely?

its not unlikely that island nations will still be locked down come april when next season starts .

then visas run out and people can't leave by yacht so have to fly home,then can't return,or have left their yacht in nz for cyclone season and can't return as they are from a high transmission risk part of the world.

Visas were extended for those that needed it when there was lockdown in nz. There are no restrictions for leaving nz by either boat or plane, haven't been for months now. But no, you won't be able to return in the near future. There's no "cyclone season" in nz so your boat will be safe on the hard indefinitely.

[BugzyCan]

I imagine a lot of these boaties have been out on the water long enough to be free of the virus, but it only takes one encounter to infect them, one person they picked up on the way, one friend they met for an hour, or one restocking stop along the way, and now they have it and don't know it.

If you ask them how long they have been at sea, I bet a lot of them would lie, just to be able to buy more oranges. Can you trust every person on every yacht to be honest about their possible infection chances? I doubt it.

NZ would be wise to be very careful how they manage this.

[patprice]

Why is New Zealand being "picked on" rather than Australia? Or for that matter Marshall Islands.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Tillsbury

Visas were extended for those that needed it when there was lockdown in nz. There are no restrictions for leaving nz by either boat or plane, haven't been for months now. But no, you won't be able to return in the near future. There's no "cyclone season" in nz so your boat will be safe on the hard indefinitely.

sorry i think you missed my point,that assuming yachts are allowed into new zealand to avoid cyclone season nov-april in the tropical parts of the south pacific,what happens next april when it is time to leave and tonga,new caledonia ,vanuatu ,australia etc are still closed to yachts and visitors ?

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by atoll

sorry i think you missed my point,that assuming yachts are allowed into new zealand to avoid cyclone season nov-april in the tropical parts of the south pacific,what happens next april when it is time to leave and tonga,new caledonia ,vanuatu ,australia etc are still closed to yachts and visitors ?

You can keep your yacht in NZ for 2 years...
Fiji is open....