History of The Beast
You would be hard pressed to find a boat with more history than that of ‘NZ’, the charter boat owned and operated by Southern Charters. Aptly nicknamed ‘The Beast’, our bright orange charter boat came to be in our possession through a series of inquiries made in 2016. Finally, in mid-2016, we took possession of the boat which became headline news around the south, and even the world.
Our orange delight started life under the ownership of New Zealand Rail and had very exciting beginnings. Its first major job was to provide safe passage for members of the media to cover the America’s Cup in San Diego in 1995.
It was then the first vessel to reach the scene of an Australian yacht sinking in the race between Team New Zealand and One Australia. It consequently rescued several of the crew. Upon its return to New Zealand waters, Coastguard Marlborough took ownership and let it do what it did best: save lives.
From 1995 until 2016, it attended approximately 70 callouts per year. In effect, ‘The Beast’ has been a vital part in over 1500 rescue and emergency operations.
With the end of one exciting chapter for the boat, a new one was about to begin.
Interisland Rescue, as it was known, was to become registered as ‘NZ’. It was transported from Picton to Dunedin by truck in 2016, before being sailed by current owner Lindsay Turner to Bluff to start life as a charter boat. The journey took almost five and a half hours, and almost 500 litres of fuel, but battled through five metre swells and beyond.
We look forward to providing you with a range of chartering services on this very boat, all captained by the friendly team at Southern Charters.