Pacific MotorYachts Ltd

In the early days of settlement, the days of sail, London insurers would not cover shipping attempting entry to any port on the west coast of New Zealand. This exclusion clause was common up until the early twentieth century.

The west coast is exposed to the prevailing south west wind which has an unhindered fetch right round the Southern Ocean. The South Island coast, much of which lies in the Roaring Forties, is particularity dangerous.

All the harbour entrances and there are few harbours along the 1200 miles of coast, are dominated by sand bars which tend to shift and many are simply river mouths.

Cruising yachtsmen seldom venture along this shore, preferring instead to keep to the east coast where safe anchorages are more plentiful and the currents and swell less of a consideration.

The west coast ports are however home to some shipping. There is coal shipped from Westport and Greymouth, oil and gas supply vessels work from New Plymouth and the west coast port for Auckland, the Manukau, handles general cargo. All the west coast ports have fishing fleets.

When thinking about content for this web page occasionally something comes up that shows perfectly a subject that would otherwise be difficult to explain. The video footage below is an example.


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These are two fishing vessels entering the port of Greymouth, at the mouth of the Grey River. The weather system that as recently flooded much of Australia has also dumped rainfall on the South Island with the result that the river has swollen to as much as three times its normal size. Also there is a large swell running at sea.

The rush of the river water meeting the swell is causing steep irregular waves. A situation that is dangerous as a vessel attempting to cross may easily broach.

However, make no mistake, these fishermen know exactly what they are doing and are performing a “text” book maneuver, as chaotic as it looks. They have picked their timing; at the top of the tide.

Of interest here for us are the vessels, which demonstrate characteristics which we talk about on this web site, features that without doubt give these skippers confidence, namely:

• Good directional stability.
• Shear, high bow which provides reserve buoyancy; note how they remain relatively dry.
• Heavy displacement combined with large efficient propeller with a solid grip in the water.
• No doubt they will have reliable machinery and no doubt that in this instant that machinery is working at full capacity!

I could also add that one of these is a 50 year old Watson design.

Video 3 minutes 13 seconds long