BoatWatch came about as a result of my personal experiences with the sinking of my own launch at its mooring.
During the preceeding two days leading up to the sinking over six
people were looking for a way to contact the owner as they could see she was sitting low in the water.
One person placed a picture of my boat on Facebook in the hope that I may see it, another phoned the City Council who administer the mooring I was at, only to be told by the phone operator that she wasn't aware if they had anything to do with moorings, another 5 people phoned the Harbour Masters office only to be told that it wasn't their problem.
After some investigation by myself and my lawyer it seems that the Harbourmasters office, even though they are often the only ones to hold information on all moorings had no responsibilty for boats at their mooring. The harbour master and his office is only interested in a boat if it is considered 'a danger to navigation' and it seems that vessels at their mooring are not deemed to be a danger to navigation, even if they are sinking.
I do question the ethical balance in this position in that one would assume they would at least have a 'duty of care' to all vessels within their jurisdiction.
Having said this it should be noted that this was my experience with the Canterbury Harbour Master's office and this is not necessarily the case in all jurisdictions and discussions with Harbour Masters offices in various areas show that this is not always the case. Unfortunately there is no listing showing which offices do act on information received and which do not so is it a situation of 'user beware' or do you take precautions to ensure your vessels safety?
So with this in mind it would seem that it is for the vessels owners to protect themselves in whatever way possible and during the COVID-19 lockdowwn this site was born in an attempt to provide a little peace of mind for all us boat owners.
