Gisborne Fisho's

From CG Hawke's Bay
Kia ora folks,
A quick update on what we have been doing, first though our thoughts are with the whanau of the missing Gisborne fishers.
We became aware of the incident yesterday afternoon and kept a watching brief as the search was outside of our area of operation. Then today we were activated by RCCNZ as some people in the water had been sighted off Portland Island.
Although the weather was marginal at best, we made a decision to see what we could do. We left Napier at about 2:30pm and made our way to Portland Island. The conditions were such that we could only travel at about 12 or 13 knots, we usually cruise at 25+ knots. The swell was in excess of 3m and the wind 25 knots plus.
We unfortunately had to make the call about 23 miles short of the last known position of the people due to the deteriorating conditions, at that stage we had travelled 31 miles in 2.5 hours and still had more than 2 hours to get to Portland Island. The sea state was no higher, but now rather than being a 'regular swell' it was now quite confused, and the wind had increased. With night falling and not being able to see the waves approaching things were starting to get dangerous for our crew. In addition, the forecast was for the weather to continue to deteriorate.
We held a discussion on board and as skipper I then made the difficult decision that for crew safety we could not continue. RCCNZ was informed and we started the return trip. The first time we were not able to complete a tasking. The return trip was still quite challenging.
Stay safe
Henry, Coastguard Hawke's Bay