[Jacques Reed]

Hi Lynn,

The pilot's name eludes me but he was a younger guy in his early forties.

I followed the "Rena" grounding and subsequent total loss with a lot of interest here in Australia in view of my connection to the port of Tauranga.

I am sure reams have been written about the incident and the salvage attempt but why it even occurred in the first place says a lot about the present standard of training of ship's officers. I won't get on my soapbox here about that! Would take too many hours to read.

It sure made a mess of a beautiful coastline for a while. Is all the mess gone or does the odd container still wash up on the shoreline?

Cheers,