Yacht rescue nearish Brisbane, Aust.

[mcarthur]

Police view:

NSW Water Police have rescued a stranded yacht under severe conditions off the NSW north coast, following an 15-hour operation to retrieve the vessel.

About 12pm yesterday (Sunday 9 October 2022), emergency services were called to reports a Queensland yacht was in trouble about 50 nautical miles off the NSW north coast near Kinsgcliff.

Officers attached to Tweed Heads Water Police located the vessel with a shredded mainsail and no engine power, with two men – aged 56 and 61 – on board.

About 3.30pm, police commenced towing the vessel under extreme weather conditions, which resulted in the tow line breaking multiple times.

Due to safety concerns, police were unable to pass through the Tweed Bar and instead towed the vessel toward Southport, Queensland, where they arrived about 6.30am this morning (Monday 10 October 2022).

One of the police officers involved in the operation - a male senior constable - was taken to Tweed Heads Hospital in a stable condition, suffering dehydration, exhaustion, and a back injury sustained during the rescue.

The two yachtsmen were uninjured.

[Simi 60]

Those well advertised 30+ knots of southerly just sneak up out of nowhere.

[clownfishsydney]

Queenscliff and Tweed Heads are not exactly near Brisbane.

I can only find a reference to this incident in two newspapers a long way from where this happened.

I wonder why they were 50 nm off the coast, only real possibility is if coming from NZ I would think.

[Fore and Aft]

Simi 60 we were sailing in front of Wide Bay on Saturday and watched a few yachts cross the bar and head south. It was such a magic day, NE breeze 10-15, low swell I could easily see a skipper pushing his luck and trying to get as far south as they could.
Clownfish Sydney did you try Facebook for any information?
Cheers

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Simi 60 we were sailing in front of Wide Bay on Saturday and watched a few yachts cross the bar and head south. It was such a magic day, NE breeze 10-15, low swell I could easily see a skipper pushing his luck and trying to get as far south as they could.

There be the difference between me and thee

I knew it was coming and followed it up the coast using NSW BOM coastal observations
It would have been obvious then , to anyone who looks at the weather, that "luck" would have nothing to do with it
Especially with tired sails and engine issues.
In a section of coastline with no where to run but over a bar

No thanks, as much as I hate it, a week at the Gold Coast it is.

[Fore and Aft]

I am hearing you Simi 60, it's not like you can't Google weather stations down the coast and see what's coming if you're trying to push your luck.
Cheers

[JPA Cate]

There are also the bar cameras.

They wouldn't be the first people on CF to ignore an impending southerly change, either. A real failure of seamanship. I betcha Fore and Aft kept a weather eye to the south and returned to "base", when the sky started getting dark. The forecasts also often offer words like "late in the afternoon" or "early morning."

The info to avoid it was readily available. The part with which I am most uncomfortable is that one of the Water Policemen had to be hospitalized, injured in the difficult rescue attempt, possibly one of the times the tow line snapped.

Ann

[ChrisJHC]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

There are also the bar cameras.

They wouldn't be the first people on CF to ignore an impending southerly change, either. A real failure of seamanship. I betcha Fore and Aft kept a weather eye to the south and returned to "base", when the sky started getting dark. The forecasts also often offer words like "late in the afternoon" or "early morning."

The info to avoid it was readily available. The part with which I am most uncomfortable is that one of the Water Policemen had to be hospitalized, injured in the difficult rescue attempt, possibly one of the times the tow line snapped.

Ann

Also not sure how the Policeman was “exhausted and dehydrated” given they were on a (presumably) well stocked Water Police vessel.
Maybe they were seasick on top of getting injured while doing the recovery?

[clownfishsydney]

ABC report on this. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-...LNLTEkDv0MB2Kk

[ChrisJHC]

Originally Posted by ChrisJHC

Also not sure how the Policeman was “exhausted and dehydrated” given they were on a (presumably) well stocked Water Police vessel.
Maybe they were seasick on top of getting injured while doing the recovery?

Ah - the ABC report says that the towing line snapped a number of times which required significant manual effort by the policeman to reattach.

[JPA Cate]

Sorry, but, I feel the abc reporting maximizes drama, to the extent it is difficult to tell what happened in reality. It was only 30 knots! I guess the guys did not have a clue what to do when the wind vane broke. We've hand steered, watch on, watch off, in that situation. It read to me like the sailors were not very experienced. It was just a southerly change. Unexpected "storm", my foot! Storm force is 52 knots. The boat should have been able to sail safely.

Ann

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Sorry, but, I feel the abc reporting maximizes drama, to the extent it is difficult to tell what happened in reality. It was only 30 knots! I guess the guys did not have a clue what to do when the wind vane broke. We've hand steered, watch on, watch off, in that situation. It read to me like the sailors were not very experienced. It was just a southerly change. Unexpected "storm", my foot! Storm force is 52 knots. The boat should have been able to sail safely.

Ann

Come on Anne, he's got a shaggers shirt on
Isn't that proof of experience

Would have been simple to jog back downhill under headsail to Southport or even around Cape Moreton vs the shitfight in getting a tow

But what would I know, I don't have the shirt

[Fore and Aft]

ClownFishSydney thanks for the link, I almost spat my coffee on the computer screen when I read the article.
I will give you guys some background on the whole situation. That owner Darryl gave me a fair bit of grief and slagged me off to anyone who would listen back in February when he purchased the yacht. I did the pre-purchase survey and my report reflected Lester D was not ready to do a voyage to Adelaide (Maybe 2000 miles?). My issue with Darryl arose when he could not get insurance until the yacht was brought up to standard. Darryls argument was he would sail this project boat home and then do the repairs. Anyway, I copped a fair bit of flak and have a file of nasty emails Darryl sent me regarding my abilities as a surveyor. Darryl's only been sailing 3 years and 2 of them were in lockdown so I just had a quiet chuckle at what he was saying.
Darryl is just another one in a long line of Covidiots I have been dealing with and luckily none of them have drowned yet.
Cheers

[chrisr]

you always suspect something like that, but to have such a first hand report from a knowledgeable bloke like fore and aft really brings home
a) the fools out there giving us all a bad name
b) the poor standard of what passes for journalism these days

glad no-one was seriously hurt

cheers,

(ps : that looks like a swanson isn't it ?)

[JPA Cate]

Yes, it looks like a Swannie to me, too. The boat could have taken it; the guys were'nt up to it. Sad.