Yacht mishap in Oz

[Alan Wheeler]

Bit of footage of a near disarster.
www.wimp.com/boatrescue/

HOLY COW!! What I want to know is how does the pilot get that chopper off the ground with gonads that big

[Alan Wheeler]

I would say it was so close to another rescue, it wasn't funny.
I don't know how the guy got his sail boat there in the first place, but stuff happens. I expect that this is over a river bar. If he was going to attack a river bar with waves like that, he should have called for help and not attempted to sail it. But I guess coming in fromt he back of those waves, he didn't realise what was there till it was too late to get out.
But as for the rescue craft, either those guy's had no idea how to handle water like that, or they also had engine trouble. Because that was just a plain stupid way to come into waves of that size. Totaly misread the sea and totaly wrong way to handle the boat.

[hellosailor]

How odd, an official "surf rescue" helo without a hoist on the side. That's pretty much the first piece of equipment that gets bolted on in the US--even before GPS.<G>

But this reminds me very much of what John Rousmaniere said in "Fastnet, Force 10", i.e. KEEP ONE OF THE POINTY ENDS FACING INTO THE WAVES.

[Intentional Drifter]

Gee -- it isn't that hard to do in the movies. How many times have you seen James Bond or Jack Bauer pull this stuff off? Easy.

Seriously, though. Wow. Things sure can get bad in a hurry, can't they.

ID