Ferry passengers endure 'roller coaster' ride on Cook Strait in 7-metre high swells

Wednesday, 12 July 2017

Passengers in Picton describe their choppy Cook Strait crossing from Wellington on Wednesday morning.

A 'rollercoaster ride' across Cook Strait saw the Kaiarahi ferry almost run out of vomit bags, according to passengers.

Interislander has now cancelled all sailings until Friday morning because of deteriorating weather conditions in the strait, which has whipped up 7-metre-high swells.

Passengers tell of their a rough ride across Cook Strait on Wednesday.

Passenger Nathan Pilcher, who sails on the ferries regularly, said his Wednesday morning crossing from Picton to Wellington on the Kaiarahi was the worst journey he had experienced.

'It was like being on a rollercoaster, but you didn't know how big the next [swell] was going to be.

Rough ride over Cook Strait

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'Everyone was sitting on the floor, holding on, sitting down with vomit bags, and people were lying down in the toilets.'

The first two hours out of Picton were calm enough, but then the swells picked up, and 'it was just hold on', Pilcher said.

For 90 minutes, the waves were so big they crashed over the top of the viewing deck. He could hear cutlery and glass breaking, and there was a 'smell of vomit' everywhere.

At Baring Head - on the Cook Strait coastline southeast of Wellington - the average wave height was 5m, with occasional maximum heights of 7-8m.

At one point, the ferry stopped and passengers thought they might turn around.

Wellingtonians were greeted by strong winds and cool temperatures on Wednesday morning as the cold front from the South Island moved north.

Jeremy Falconer, who was on the same sailing, said the journey started out 'reasonably bumpy' through the sounds, but in the open water it was rough enough to knock one of the ceiling panels loose.

A ceiling panel on the Interislander ferry Kaiarahi comes loose during a rough crossing. Photo: Jeremy Falconer/Supplied

MetService Severe Weather Warning

'[There was] lots [of] up and downing and side-to-side movements, with big waves splashing over the front,' he said.

'I've been crossing the strait for 25 years and had some rough journeys … this one takes the trophy for the roughest yet.'

He could hear loud noises from waves hitting the hull and 'stuff smashing' in the cafe/bar, which had to be closed.

'It was difficult moving around the boat … Lots of sick people sitting around on the floor and filling the bathrooms.'

The crew did a great job of assisting people, he said.

Michelle Blake said the crossing was so rough that the crew almost ran out of vomit bags.

'Everyone was fighting over the sick bags, because they had run out. I think they did bring out more there towards the end, but there was a time there where we were scrabbling.'

Her son Noah, 8, said when the ship tipped backwards, he thought it might flip entirely.

Lachlan Sixtus, who was travelling with his parents and sister, said he worked his way through four vomit bags during the journey.

'You would go into the toilet, and there would be people puking. You could hear them – it was horrible.'

Things were no better on the Kaitaki sailing from Wellington to Picton. Passenger Carla Ponte Newman said: 'It was like a rollercoaster sometimes … At the front I went to see the big waves and it would feel like walking if you were drunk.

'You'd go up, and down. Up, and down. The sea was really rough, the waves were washing all over, all over the windows.'

There were so many people vomiting down the back of the ship that it started to smell quite bad, she said.

Gisborne man Chris Newman said: 'All the kids were running around the front of the ship and a lot of them were vomiting in the bags, but once we got into the sounds all of them were eating fish and chips and having a good old time.'

A more stoical Warren, who would not give his last name, said the sailing was 'a wee bit sloppy'.

'Nothing to really go on about … There was a few sick people, a few people going 'Oh my gosh', a few saying prayers, but nah, it wasn't bad. I've been on worse.'

'It's a good boat, it's a big boat, the Kaitaki … So no, it wasn't bad, nobody died. No cars went over the side or stuff like that, which has happened before.'

ALL FERRY SAILINGS CANCELLED

Interislander operator KiwiRail made the call on Wednesday morning to cancel all sailings from 5pm until Friday morning because of forecast bad weather, but it kept all other ferries to schedule during the day.

'There is nothing telling us that we can't sail at the moment,' she said.

But at 1.30pm it decided to cancel the 2.45pm and 5pm sailings from Wellington, as well as the 6.45pm sailing from Picton.

Freight sailings were expected to resume on Friday, from Wellington at 6.30am and from Picton at 9.05am, with the first passenger sailing from Wellington at 9am and from Picton at 10.55am.

General manager operations Mark Thompson said affected passengers and freight customers would be contacted and rescheduled where possible.

'We regret the inconvenience to our customers. We are always striving to deliver the best possible service, but safety is paramount.'

A Bluebridge spokeswoman said it had also cancelled all its sailings between Wednesday night and Friday morning.

The decision to cancel a sailing was made by the ship's master, based on a range of factors including the swell size in Cook Strait, she said.