Ships accused of crossing kids’ race

THE sailing community wants an investigation into why Huon Aquaculture vessels went through the middle of a children’s dinghy race on the River Derwent at the weekend.

OPEN DAY: Ronja Huon docked on the Hobart waterfront.

THE sailing community wants an investigation into why Huon Aquaculture vessels went through the middle of a children’s dinghy race on the River Derwent at the weekend.

Sailor Shaun Tiedemann said the Derwent Sailing Squadron club would lodge a complaint with the harbour master and Marine and Safety Tasmania after the 75-metre Huon Aquaculture vessel Ronja Huon sailed through the Sandy Bay Sailing Club children’s dinghy sailing course on Saturday.

“It is one of the most dangerous, irresponsible and disgraceful acts I have seen on the river,’’ Mr Tiedemann said.

“There was no pilot boat and no pilot flag — there was definitely no pilot in charge of the boat.”

Huon Aquaculture said it had done nothing wrong and had followed all TasPorts’ requirements.

A spokesman for the salmon producer said it had been “in constant contact with TasPorts regarding the Ronja Huon’s movements before and during its sailing up the river”.

“We complied with all TasPorts’ requirements and the boat was under pilot from one of their employees,’’ he said.

The Ronja Huon was sailing the Hobart docks for Huon Aquaculture’s open day at PW1 yesterday.

About 100 children were on board the 70 dinghies on the water, including some as young as eight and the Sailability sailing dinghies containing people with disabilities.

Mr Tiedemann said the Ronja Huon twice sailed through the race.

“Having been involved in running races on the Derwent for eight years, I would be very surprised if there was a pilot because a piloted vessel would not have done what we saw on Saturday,” he said.

In a separate incident, a Huon Aquaculture boat towing a company barge also sailed through the race course.

Mr Tiedemann said a 300-metre towline was barely visible in the water and did not have a flag attached, as required by marine protocol.

Sailor Richard Goodfellow said the Ronja Huon captain was warned on VHS radio the boat was approaching the race.

A spokesman for TasPorts said one of its pilots boarded the Ronja Huon and “adhered to maritime procedure and protocol during the transit of the Derwent River including display of the pilot flag at all times that he was on board’’.

He said recreational and commercial craft were made aware of the Ronja Huon’s movements on the public VHF channel.

“We are in communication with the Sandy Bay Sailing Club and MAST regarding their concerns on Saturday,’’ the spokesman said

MAST boss Peter Hopkins said the marine safety body would write to Huon Aquaculture to get its side of the story.

Originally published as Ships accused of crossing kids’ race