A procedural hearing to determine whether or not Queenstown’s council should have declared a piece of New Zealand’s maritime history abandoned is scheduled in the High Court next Wednesday.
On February 26, 2020, Queenstown’s council obtained a formal proof judgment from the High Court against Auckland businessman Geoff Hunt, which ultimately declared former America’s Cup yacht NZL14 had been ‘‘abandoned’’ under a section of the Maritime Transport Act 1994.
Under that section, a ‘‘regional council’’ may remove, store, sell or otherwise dispose of any ship within its waters which has been abandoned by the owner.
The yacht, part of the Team NZ challenge for the 1992 America’s Cup, skippered by Sir Russell Coutts, which raced in San Francisco, was originally brought to Queenstown from Auckland by Sail Queenstown Ltd in 2005 — that company stopped operating in 2010.
Hunt bought it in 2017 for an undisclosed sum, and then in April, 2019, NZL14 was purchased by NZL14 Youth Aid Foundation, through its trustee, NZL14 Youth Aid Ltd, directors of which are Hunt and Peter Watkins, of Tauranga.
After deeming the yacht abandoned, in May, 2020, council called for expressions of interest from interested parties wanting to remove it last March.
In November it signalled its intention to remove and dispose of NZL14 — consigning it to the knacker’s yard.
However, in the week or so prior, Hunt sought council’s agreement to hold fire while other options were investigated.
Council didn’t agree, so Hunt sought, and obtained, an interim injunction, then applied to set aside the 2020 judgment.
That’s on the basis Hunt isn’t the owner of the boat.
Hunt contends the 2020 High Court judgment was therefore ‘‘irregularly obtained’’ because he wasn’t the owner of NZL14, and the owner wasn’t a named defendant.
He also refutes the yacht’s been abandoned.
