A skipper who steered a New Year’s Eve cruise onto a sandbank has given a bizarre reason for why he got so drunk: he claimed he thought his alcoholic drinks were soft drinks.
Cruise captain Keith Francis Tamati Tarapipipi-Kippenberger was almost three times over the limit and crashed his ship on a sandbank in the Gold Coast Broadwater, near Main Beach, during New Year’s Eve celebrations.
About 120 partygoers were forced to call the stranded boat in 2024, leading to a massive rescue operation at sea.
Queensland’s Southport Magistrates Court was told on Tuesday that water police had received several reports about the skipper, including suspicions he had been drinking.
Defense attorney Clancy Robba told the court that Tarapipipi-Kippenberger only later realized that the “number of soft drinks” he drank that night were actually alcoholic Hard Solos.
Cruise captain Keith Francis Tamati Tarapipipi-Kippenberger (right) said he thought the alcoholic Hard Solo he drank was lemon soda
Tarapipipi-Kippenberger was found to be nearly three times the legal drinking limit when he crashed a cruise ship carrying more than 100 passengers into a sandbank during New Year’s celebrations on the Gold Coast.
Tarapipipi-Kippenberger was charged after taking a breath test and registering a blood alcohol level of 0.149.
Hard Solo is the alcoholic counterpart of the lemon soda Solo, but has an alcohol content of 4.5 percent, which equates to approximately 1.3 standard drinks per can.
The alcoholic beverage, which uses a similar brand name to Solo, will soon be forced to change its name to “Hard Rated” after regulators received a handful of complaints that it could be confused with the soda.
The skipper remained silent as a reporter bombarded him with a barrage of questions as he left the court.
“Do you have anything to say about what you did?” asked Channel Seven reporter Mel Wightman.
“Do you understand how dangerous it is to drive a boat while drunk?
“Do you really think people would believe you didn’t know you were drinking? You were almost three times over the legal limit.”
Hard Solo was a huge hit at last year’s Schoolies celebrations on the Gold Coast. Schoolie Lucas, above, with a large crate
Rhyce, Sabian, James and Will cracked open cans of Hard Solo along the Surfers Paradise strip during the festivities
Mr Robba explained that his client had had a few drinks the day before the event and also on board the boat that evening.
“He has never done anything like this before – he is embarrassed and ashamed of the offence,” Robba told the court, the court heard. Gold Coast Bulletin.
However, Magistrate Mark Bamberry was unconvinced by the skipper’s confusion and claimed the story was ‘hard to believe’.
“It’s not like you’re on a jet ski… you’ve got about 120 strange people on board plus your crew, and I’m told you drink Hard Solo and don’t know the difference,” Mr Bamberry said.
Tarapipipi-Kippenberger pleaded guilty to one charge of mid-level drunk driving, was fined $2,000 and had his boating license disqualified for three months.
Mr Robba explained that Tarapipipi-Kippenberger’s reputation has been ‘severely damaged’, making it difficult for the FIFO officer to find sailing contracts.
He added that the incident was also being investigated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
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There is a difference: Hard Solo (left) is the alcoholic counterpart of the lemon soda Solo (right), but has an alcohol concentration of 4.5 percent – which works out to about 1.3 standard drinks per can