Speed limit for Waitemata harbour

Auckland Harbourmaster John Lee-Richards is directing skippers of power-driven vessels to observe a 12-knot speed limit in the inner Waitemata Harbour.

He says the limit will help some skippers who have difficulty assessing a maximum safe speed for increasingly busy waters.

The number of collisions has been high, he says, and in all of them the skippers of power boats travelling at speed did not see the second vessel and the risk of collision.

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron commodore John Crawford says members will be encouraged to observe the directions, which apply from tomorrow morning.