A skipper of a boat was affected by alcohol, experiencing a diabetic low and had a person with minimal boating experience at the helm when his boat grounded on Lake Wakatipu during a trip involving work colleagues and friends.
Invercargill man Mark Young appeared before Judge Bernadette Farnan in the Invercargill District Court on Thursday for sentence on a charge of operating a ship in a manner to cause unnecessary danger or risk to persons or property.
The charge was laid by Maritime New Zealand.
Young’s boat C-Works, an 8.5m vessel, was launched from Kingston about 8am, Judge Farnan said.
Throughout the morning Young allowed different people to steer the boat. They were told to keep the boat at a depth of 15.2m (50 feet), following the shoreline.
During the morning there was a whisky tasting session with Young reporting he had three "nips" and a shot of tequila.
In its summary of facts Maritime New Zealand stated video footage of Young taken on the day of the trip was consistent of someone being affected by alcohol.
However, Young’s counsel Brian Nathan said his client was not intoxicated. At the time of the grounding he was suffering from a diabetic low.
It was when the boat reached Halfway Bay the lake began to get choppy with up to 1m waves.
While one of the guests, who had little boating experience, steered the boat, Young turned on a second engine to stabilise the vessel. This saw the boat speed increase from three knots to seven knots.
Young offered no further instruction to the person who was steering at the time.
It was between 12.30 and 12.35pm that the boat grounded on the rocks causing all but one of the people on the boat to fall over. No-one fell overboard. The party made its way through the water and on to the rocks where they sat and waited for help.
Former Tour of Southland winner Doug Bath had only recently finished cooking fish for those on board when the boat grounded, causing hot oil to splash on to his feet.
Reading out his victim impact statement he said he could not wear shoes for five weeks which had impacted on his income and family life. He said he still felt aggrieved about what happened.
Two others believed they received concussions and bruising with Young also receiving a cracked tailbone, burnt hand and hurt ribs.
Judge Farnan said Young had not properly managed his health and intoxication level on the day of the fishing trip.
"This was an avoidable situation."
As he had already paid $2500 to the Coast Guard, Judge Farnan fined Young $1000. He was also ordered to pay $1000 emotional harm reparation to Mr Bath and $500 to another victim.
Maritime New Zealand general regulatory operations manager John Drury said Young did not provide supervision to those in charge of the vessel.
"If someone was looking out for risks, the proximity to the shore may have been identified and the accident could have been avoided."
A woman will appear in court on June 6 in relation to the same incident. She is charged with giving a false statement to Maritime New Zealand on December 14, 2021
- An earlier version of this story has been changed with corrections inserted. The Otago Daily Times apologises for any distress caused by the errors in its earlier report of this sentencing.
