{"id":474008,"date":"2026-06-12T16:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/474008\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T16:30:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T16:30:19","slug":"yacht-crew-saved-off-northland-coast-after-steering-failure-sparks-185km-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/474008\/","title":{"rendered":"Yacht crew saved off Northland coast after steering failure sparks 185km rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Skipper Greg Gemmell said they were notified about the stricken yacht about 3.30pm on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

They required an exemption from Maritime New Zealand because the rescue was more than 12 nautical miles (22.2km) at sea. <\/p>\n

Multiple agencies worked together for about two hours to plan the rescue. <\/p>\n

Coastguard Houhora set off about 6pm, with four crew and two shore-based crew aiding them. <\/p>\n

Conditions were fine until they arrived near the vessel on the west coast, about two hours after leaving shore.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe yacht, headed for Australia, was located around 40 nautical miles – 74km- north of North Cape. Photo \/ Coastguard Houhora<\/p>\n

It was dark, there were swells, and 15-20 knots of wind to grapple with, making for an unpleasant ride. <\/p>\n

Gemmell said the yacht\u2019s crew was relieved to see Coastguard arrive. <\/p>\n

They decided the safest option was to place two of the four Coastguard members aboard the yacht. <\/p>\n

Gemmell explained those on board were fatigued, and by that point, only the captain was capable of operating anything.<\/p>\n

Fatigue was often a trigger for other things to go awry, he explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think when you\u2019re in that situation, reassurance is as good … a tool as anything … when you know you\u2019ve got some fresh energy there to help.\u201d <\/p>\n

Once the two Coastguard members were on board, the vessel shadowed the boat back to calmer waters. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it just gave the whole spirit on board a positive turn that they probably were going to be okay,\u201d Gemmell said. <\/p>\n

\"ItIt was more than 185km travelled by the time Coastguard Houhora and the stricken vessel were able to return to shore. Photo \/ Coastguard Houhora<\/p>\n

About 2am, the yacht\u2019s captain, who had rested, took over steering. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe strength and the energy required to operate it [the steering] was very gruelling on them,\u201d Gemmell said.<\/p>\n

He explained about 80% of the trip was shadowing the yacht, with 20% spent towing. Had they decided to tow the whole way, it would have taken far longer. <\/p>\n

Gemmell said the yacht\u2019s crew knew they were going to struggle making it back without help. <\/p>\n

No other boats were in the area, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were certainly well equipped with safety gear and all that, so I think they knew what they were doing, but these things can happen to anyone, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CoastguardCoastguard Houhora executed a 10-hour rescue on Wednesday night. The crew is made up of volunteers. Photo \/ Coastguard Houhora<\/p>\n

He feared had they stopped and gone to bed without seeking aid, the yacht would have washed up on the coast.<\/p>\n

The Ayacht\u2019s crew was tired but uninjured when they arrived back to Northland shores about 5am. <\/p>\n

Gemmell said Coastguard Houhora was operated by volunteers, and they all had day jobs. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a remote area here, it\u2019s a small little community we have and having even six people to take that time out of their life is a big effort.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whang\u0101rei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Skipper Greg Gemmell said they were notified about the stricken yacht about 3.30pm on Wednesday. They required an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[239048,239046,239049,74,239047,1558,13651,11586,8278,14900,3989,42343,1303,130,111,43,139,529,1067,69,6662,239050,8527,18560,17162,8207,166821,131,16506],"class_list":["post-474008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-10hour","tag-185km","tag-70km","tag-after","tag-australiabound","tag-been","tag-cape","tag-coast","tag-conditions","tag-crew","tag-effort","tag-failure","tag-gruelling","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-north","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-off","tag-pitchblack","tag-rescue","tag-rescued","tag-saved","tag-sparks","tag-steering","tag-than","tag-yacht"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}