Yacht rescue has stormy sequel

A legal storm could be brewing in the southern seas after a rescue mission off Stewart Island turned sour this week.

American yachtie Bill Kimball, 71, lost all power on his 18m boat Shady Lady during a storm on Sunday near Muttonbird Island.

He put a call out over Maritime Radio and was rescued by the fishing boat Sea Emerald before being winched on to a rescue helicopter and taken to Southland Hospital.

The fishing boat towed his yacht to Easy Harbour on the western side of Stewart Island.

Mr Kimball had been hand-pumping water from his yacht for nine hours before being rescued and was suffering from exhaustion. He was checked at Southland Hospital and discharged.

On Tuesday, Mr Kimball chartered a helicopter and returned to the harbour where he, St John paramedic Ian Ridley, who had befriended the American, and three others were stunned to see the skipper of the Sea Emerald, David Williams, about to move his yacht.

"He came into the harbour and steamed right up to the boat, threw a grapple around the anchor chain and proceeded to tow it away," Mr Ridley said.

After a verbal battle on Maritime Radio Channel 16, which can be heard by all boats, Mr Williams returned the boat to the mooring.

Mr Kimball said he had received a call from Mr Williams the previous day claiming that the Shady Lady had been abandoned and that he had salvaged it.

Mr Kimball and Mr Ridley repaired the yacht enough to sail to Bluff overnight on Thursday.

Mr Williams was yesterday standing by his actions in attempting to "salvage" the yacht. He said Mr Kimball had abandoned the yacht, which meant it had become a salvage operation.

"We battled humungous seas to get out there and we ended up crashing with the yacht. As far as I am concerned it became a salvage when we put a rope on it."

Mr Williams said he would be claiming the cost of the rescue from the Rescue Co-ordination Centre and also trying for salvage costs through the courts, which can equate to 25 per cent of the boat's value.

Mr Williams admitted he had been rescued himself more than once but he did not think this was a case of "what goes around comes around".

A spokeswoman for the Marine Safety Authority said the Sea Emerald was under duty by law to respond to a mayday if it could. The rescuers were entitled to seek compensation or they could salvage the boat, which then had to be delivered into the possession of the police, she said. It was not possible to do both.

Mr Kimball was more than 30,500km into a round-the-world trip.

- NZPA