Skipper Responsibility...

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Before I up-skilled on bar crossings today, all I knew about them was that there was three kinds of bars - dangerous, very dangerous and very very dangerous - in other words, they're ALL dangerous.   Living on the Kaipara Harbour for sixteen years and being involved with Coastguard Kaipara, I know the Kaipara Bar is dangerous.  We all do - it's not called the Graveyard without a good reason.
I crossed the Raglan Bar on a good day and the swells were huge.  I can imagine how rough it would get with adverse weather & tide.
With the tragedy over the weekend and not being a bar crossing expert, I checked out MNZ's National Code of Practice for Bar Crossings.   There are the procedures: stow gear low, wear life-jackets, check weather, tide & bar conditions, batten down, avoid night crossings and ebb tide...etc
However, at the end of the recommendations it states: "It is ultimately the skipper's responsibility to determine whether or not to cross a bar".
The passengers could be wearing life-jackets or not, the vessel could be seaworthy or not, but it is still the ultimate responsibility of the skipper to ensure the safety of his/her vessel and passengers at all times - whether crossing the bar or crossing the harbour...recreational or commercial vessel.



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