New Zealand Immigration Officer Making Wild Claims

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by TeddyDiver

Not big enough? Look this OSB

lol. i guess if you only have $500 and want to see the world....

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by scoobert

lol. i guess if you only have $500 and want to see the world....

Money is not the limit. Neither is size.

Imagination is.

b.

[chris_gee]

Customs does require a safety clearance known a cat 1 but only for NZ flagged vessels. The case establishing that has been cited here twice.
The Maritime Safety Authority can stop any vessel leaving on safety grounds. The section has been cited. From memory I think it calls for clear evidence or grounds. As a matter of logic that cannot be established without an inspection by a person accepted as having the expertise to do so.
Doubts or concerns held by a person without the expertise or statutory authority to act are insufficient.
I also imagine as a matter of natural justice that if the vessel was detained there would be a requirement to detail specific concerns thus allowing the possibility of rectifying them.
The safety inspectors are generally people with considerable knowledge and experience with small vessels and the op would be well advised to listen to them and ask why specifically they suggest this or that. The outcome may still be that he does not meet the standards that a NZ vessel would be required to however he may well be safer than he otherwise might.
The issue is not whether he might succeed but that if he runs into trouble reasonable efforts were made to forestall it turning to custard.

[JPA Cate]

Hello, everyone,

Upon leaving NZ, the OP will have to state on his Customs Forms what his planned next port is. If this is somewhere in Australia, he will pay over $300 for quarantine "service", and all his plants will be destroyed, his dirt, driftwood, and all his fresh food confiscated, except that which came from NZ or Aus. The fees are higher in "off hours", and Sundays are triple time, IIRC.

In addition, Australian Customs Service requires a minimum of 48 hrs. advance notice of one's intended entry to Australia. And it is likely that Australian Customs will over-fly him at least once on his way in to the country. This is all normal and lawful. My guess is that the OP is likely to go elsewhere.

By the way, this is not a good time to be crossing the Tasman (see the thread about the schooner Nina).

Ann

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Hello, everyone,

Upon leaving NZ, the OP will have to state on his Customs Forms what his planned next port is. If this is somewhere in Australia, he will pay over $300 for quarantine "service", and all his plants will be destroyed, his dirt, driftwood, and all his fresh food confiscated, except that which came from NZ or Aus. The fees are higher in "off hours", and Sundays are triple time, IIRC.

In addition, Australian Customs Service requires a minimum of 48 hrs. advance notice of one's intended entry to Australia. And it is likely that Australian Customs will over-fly him at least once on his way in to the country. This is all normal and lawful. My guess is that the OP is likely to go elsewhere.

By the way, this is not a good time to be crossing the Tasman (see the thread about the schooner Nina).

Ann

While my Admiral is correct about nearly all of the above (as she usually is), Oz Customs requires 96 hours notice, not 48 as stated.

Cheers,

Jim

[Boatguy30]

I have cleared in Nz and Oz and paid the fees in Oz, etc. Will be a great thread when this guy turns up in Bundie and tells them he has no money and his plants are his only method of support.

He should totally do it on a Sunday if possible.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

While my Admiral is correct about nearly all of the above (as she usually is), Oz Customs requires 96 hours notice, not 48 as stated.

Cheers,

Jim

Just while Jim is picking on his wife may I just amend Jims erroneous note on notice.

Australian customs require a minimum 96 hours notice. But that means you can notify them 6 months ahead of time! Just not less than 96 hours notice.

If you are likely to forget then send notice when you go through Panama Canal and update it.

The Master of a vessel arriving in Australia is required by law to give notice of impending arrival not later than 96 hours before arrival.

There are several agencies interested in your arrival - principally Customs, Quarantine and Immigration.
96 hours notice may be given by either;

• Sending an email to yachtreport@customs.gov.au
• Sending a fax to +61 2 6275 5078
• Phoning the Australian Customs National Communications Centre on +61 3 9244 8973

You will need to provide the following information

• The name of your craft
• Craft's Country and Port of Registration
• Your intended first port of arrival
• Your estimated arrival time
• Your last four ports
• The details of people on board including name, date of birth, nationality and passport number
• Details of any illness or disease recently encountered
• If you have any animals on board
• If you have any firearms on board

information for yachts travelling to australia - let us know you're coming

Jim and Ann, please study up on section 64(5)(b)(i) of the Customs Act!

And you'all might wonder why I prefer the Caribbean to NZ and Aussie buracracy!

Mark

[hellosailor]

There is good reason to suspect the soundness of the vessel and operator, as from his own posts about slapping on some primer and bottom paint and casually running aground multiple times. To the casual reader, they give the impression of a happy-go-lucky fellow who wouldn't know what a "manifestly unsafe" vessel was or wasn't, and most nations do draw the line at preventing those from putting to sea.

However, respect the rat. Mickey has connections at Amnesty International, and if anyone in NZ had the right to arbitrarily and indefinitely arrest and detain foreigners and foreign vessels, we'd have heard about that by now. Instead there is Sellers and the like, old news by now and something any NZ "official" in any port should be aware of. Illegal arrests and detentions aren't Mickey Mouse, they are something to be most soundly investigated and punished whether they are in NZ, Uganda, Iran, or London.

As to the SAR folks having a hard time? They'd be the first ones to tell you, it comes with the territory. If they wanted easy jobs they'd be working issuing marriage licenses and birth certificates in a nice monday-to-friday civil office.

The subject of who, when, or where SAR services should be given OR NOT, is entirely irrelevant here. It is a separate subject that has been and is discussed elsewhere and again, even the SAR guys really don't want to touch that one. Our own state of New Hampshire has apparently been doing a fine little job of defining what an idiot is, and billing idiots for rescue services, for several years now. They're very up front about it, too, with posted signs that say pretty clearly "If you do this...we're gonna bill you."
Put 'em up in port, file 'em with the harbormaster...Idiots are still free to travel. Take that away, and you become Stalin. And Mickey Mouse outlived him too.

[Jim Cate]

Yep Mark, you are right... the 96 hours is a minimum. We typically just email them at the time we clear customs from wherever we happen to be. If we expected a less than 96 hour passage I guess we would do it sooner, but most places we go are more than 96 hours away from Oz.

And yep, the bureaucracy is getting tiresome...

Cheers,

Jim

[chris07732]

I've tried to read this entire thread, but I'm not sure if this question has been answered ( I may be suffering from senior-it is"): What happens to OP if he ups and leaves tomorrow very early. Do they send gun boats after him? Do they send info to his next likely port of call and then impound his boat? If the OP rejects the NZ's views/opinions, can they do anything if he gets gone from their jurisdiction? And once he does that and squeals for help, do they ignore the calls. Personally, codes of responsibility governing seafarers probably trumps their anger at OP ignoring them, and they will respond, however angry they maybe.

[Khagan1227]

Let him leave, no sat phone, no epirb, no spot, suspect boat, nasty weather... no way to call for SAR help.

Don't mean too sound harsh, but he is an adult and "free to do as he pleases" and Darwin weeds another out of the gene pool.

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by chris07732

I've tried to read this entire thread, but I'm not sure if this question has been answered ( I may be suffering from senior-it is"): What happens to OP if he ups and leaves tomorrow very early. Do they send gun boats after him? Do they send info to his next likely port of call and then impound his boat? If the OP rejects the NZ's views/opinions, can they do anything if he gets gone from their jurisdiction? And once he does that and squeals for help, do they ignore the calls. Personally, codes of responsibility governing seafarers probably trumps their anger at OP ignoring them, and they will respond, however angry they maybe.

most country's ask you for check out papers, as what i have learned by studying. thats why you must check out of USA before going other places.
this is via noonsite.

[chris_gee]

By the way citing someone setting off across the Tasman on a kayak probably won't help your case. since he drowned.

[DumnMad]

Shaun Quincey rowed solo across the Tasman as did his father 23 years earlier.

Alone Against the Tasman | Our Projects | Gibson Group NZ

[barnakiel]

Yep.

But I will still say that one that wants to leave should be free to leave. Perhaps especially the one without the EPIRB ...

I can vaguely remember there was that word once ... freedom.

b.