The 'pirate boat' of Picton taking protesters to Wellington
Thursday, 24 February 2022
Anti-mandate protesters in Picton have been using a “pirate boat” to get to Wellington, but their dream is to organise a flotilla.
David Tailby has been co-ordinating protesters’ efforts to get across Cook Strait to join the occupation around Parliament, and says the “demand is massive”.
They were trying to get a wedding party from the Picton camp to Wellington this weekend, Tailby said.
“We’re going to have a wedding on the steps of Parliament,” he said.
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A pastor had turned up to the camp at Nelson Square, in Picton, on Tuesday with a pulpit he had made himself, “so we’re getting him across with his pulpit to set himself up”, Tailby said.
Tailby contacted Stuff on Wednesday by accident. A Stuff reporter’s name and number was on a sheet of paper in the “admin tent” at the Picton camp, beside the words, “pirate boat”, he said.
Tailby left a message to see “what you’ve got to offer or what you need or what you’d like”. Tailby was called back and told he was talking to a reporter.
He said protesters in Picton had a couple of boats doing trips across the strait, but they had “more on their way”.
Tailby thought close to 100 people had already made the trip by private boat.
“We’ll be hitting that pretty shortly. There's a lot of people wanting to get across.”
He said his dream was to get enough boats to make a “flotilla”.
“I'd like to see 100 boats sail up to Wellington harbour with their flags and banners and happy smiley people all over them, that’s the goal.”
A Facebook page, called ‘Picton convoy camp 22’, showed several videos of protesters leaving Picton Marina for Wellington on a boat called Seddon Park, flying a Jolly Roger flag.
In one of the videos a protester said people could get across the strait for $35.
In another video, shot at the Picton camp, the owner of the “70-year-old” houseboat Seddon Park was identified as “Greg”, from Greymouth.
“We’re going to head off shortly with however many,” “Greg” said in the interview-style video. “Greg” did not indicate in the video he was charging people to take them across the strait.
Rotorua man Philip Macalister had been holidaying in the Marlborough Sounds on Saturday when he saw a “pirate ship” moored in the harbour, with people using a dinghy to travel out to it. It was not the only ship bearing a pirate flag, he said.
A couple had told him the ship was taking people across Cook Strait to the protest. 'It was a bit of a rust bucket,' Macalister said.
It was there again when he went back to Picton on Sunday, and ran into “Greg”.
“I thought, being a nosy guy, I'd go ask him about it. He had two kids on board. I asked him, ‘are you the guy taking people to the protest?’ And he said he was. And he showed me around.”
There was fishing gear on the deck, and Greg said he had recently delivered a load of albacore tuna to the protesters, Macalister said.
“He said he could take 100 people at a time.”
Marlborough Harbourmaster Luke Grogan said he was aware a boat was taking passengers over to the occupation in Wellington, and urged people to check the safety of a boat before hitching a ride.
He had not received any reports suggesting a boat bearing a pirate flag was falling short of those safety measures, he said.
“I'm just encouraging people to do their due diligence, if they're going to board a vessel and make passage to Wellington.
“Have they planned a safe course, done the basics, like a trip report? Provided a safety briefing, checked the weather and tides?”
Tailby said safety was “the absolute priority” on any trips across the strait.
“Everybody’s got life jackets so, yeah, totally safe, and we’re not loading them up you know, not overloading boats or anything, totally safe capacity.”
Grogan said if a boat owner was charging to take people across there were “pretty stringent requirements” to meet in order to be certified.
Greater Wellington, Maritime NZ and police revealed on Wednesday they were on standby after reports were shared online of private boats planning to leave Picton with supplies and protestors.
“Crossing the strait is not for the faint-hearted - a degree of experience is needed to understand both the dangers that exist and the obligations of operating a vessel in our region,” Greater Wellington Harbourmaster Grant Nalder said.
Tailby reckoned the skippers taking people to Wellington were “doing it all by the books”.
“These boaties don't want to wreck their own thing and make it that they can't go in and out of these harbours later.”
Meanwhile, police seized three vehicles on Monday which they believed were 'involved in burnouts at the protest in Picton” on Saturday.
Some of the vehicles were seized from a property in Spring Creek, between Picton and Blenheim.
A person was arrested on a charge of sustained loss of traction, as well as possession of ammunition, and possession of cannabis.