Tweed Heads, Australia bar

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Icarus

I don't really care where you anchor.
This blog was about crossing the Tweet river bar entrance under most unsuitable conditions.
Not just could he have lost his boat but could have quite easily drowned.
I was stationed with the Air-Sea Rescue in Ballina in early 2000.
So I do know a bit about river bars...

Umm, we have a Marine rescue but to the best of my knowledge no Air Sea Rescue.

[clownfishsydney]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Umm, we have a Marine rescue but to the best of my knowledge no Air Sea Rescue.

Marine Rescue NSW was only established 11 years ago (2010). Before that there was Coast Guard, Marine Rescue and some other more specific organisations. As Tweed Heads is right under the flight path for the Gold Coast Airport (as it is now called), the local group was called Tweed-Coolangatta Air Sea Rescue!

[Mr B]

Westpac chopper has been around for years,
I was just in Wolongong and the VHF was calling the Marine Rescue chopper quite frequently,

[Catalinagal]

They are friends of ours. This is their story to tell, not ours to speculate. They are not inexperienced sailors and Begonia has tackled bigger seas in her time. Engine and rudder issues were a contributing factor to the loss of control. They have a great blog and I am sure that they will both be writing about their experience once they have had time to process. Until those learnings emerge, please do not speculate. In other forums where this has been posted I have seen some downright vicious comments and character attacks. This is unnecessary. As you can imagine, just going through this experience is harrowing enough without the whole sailing community sitting in judgement. No sailor is perfect. We all make mistakes. Let's study the learnings and move on.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by clownfishsydney

Marine Rescue NSW was only established 11 years ago (2010). Before that there was Coast Guard, Marine Rescue and some other more specific organisations. As Tweed Heads is right under the flight path for the Gold Coast Airport (as it is now called), the local group was called Tweed-Coolangatta Air Sea Rescue!

Fair enough, I stand corrected and educated to boot!

[seaskip]

Originally Posted by Catalinagal

They are friends of ours. This is their story to tell, not ours to speculate. They are not inexperienced sailors and Begonia has tackled bigger seas in her time. Engine and rudder issues were a contributing factor to the loss of control. They have a great blog and I am sure that they will both be writing about their experience once they have had time to process. Until those learnings emerge, please do not speculate. In other forums where this has been posted I have seen some downright vicious comments and character attacks. This is unnecessary. As you can imagine, just going through this experience is harrowing enough without the whole sailing community sitting in judgement. No sailor is perfect. We all make mistakes. Let's study the learnings and move on.

Well said. Pass on support and fair winds from us.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Icarus

The skipper is a moron..nothing good about it...at least nobody was hurt...

Wow, you can tell that just from a video?

How about you accept that you only know the smallest fraction of the story and start from there.

Judge not lest you be judged also.

[ilenart]

Originally Posted by Catalinagal

They are friends of ours. This is their story to tell, not ours to speculate. They are not inexperienced sailors and Begonia has tackled bigger seas in her time. Engine and rudder issues were a contributing factor to the loss of control. They have a great blog and I am sure that they will both be writing about their experience once they have had time to process. Until those learnings emerge, please do not speculate. In other forums where this has been posted I have seen some downright vicious comments and character attacks. This is unnecessary. As you can imagine, just going through this experience is harrowing enough without the whole sailing community sitting in judgement. No sailor is perfect. We all make mistakes. Let's study the learnings and move on.

They have updated their blog but the only comment was:

General Comments: [Exiting the Tweed head bar (with steering functional, and in calmer conditions) was a lot simpler. We hopped north and re-entered protected waterways via the Spit/Southport Bar. Anchored well before dark and near boating friends - food for the soul! Expecting rain tomorrow.]

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Catalinagal

They are friends of ours. This is their story to tell, not ours to speculate. They are not inexperienced sailors and Begonia has tackled bigger seas in her time. Engine and rudder issues were a contributing factor to the loss of control. They have a great blog and I am sure that they will both be writing about their experience once they have had time to process. Until those learnings emerge, please do not speculate. In other forums where this has been posted I have seen some downright vicious comments and character attacks. This is unnecessary. As you can imagine, just going through this experience is harrowing enough without the whole sailing community sitting in judgement. No sailor is perfect. We all make mistakes. Let's study the learnings and move on.

Sadly, that's the internet. People will say things online they'd never say to your face. I'm sometimes guilty of it too.

As I said in another thread, intelligent people sometimes do stupid things.

(Or things that certainly appear stupid with the benefit of hindsight.)

We do all make mistakes.

[boatman61]

My only concern is that folks will believe that a very lucky escape is taken on board as a serious demonstration of stability leading the inexperienced into taking chances and getting into situations they otherwise may never have risked..
But then I am chicken and prefer to avoid testing boats limits..

[clownfishsydney]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Westpac chopper has been around for years,
I was just in Wolongong and the VHF was calling the Marine Rescue chopper quite frequently,

No such thing in NSW as Marine Rescue chopper. There are Westpac or Toll/Ambulance.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by clownfishsydney

No such thing in NSW as Marine Rescue chopper. There are Westpac or Toll/Ambulance.

Kinda hair splitting here really.. if choppers rescue people from boats in trouble at sea they are performing a marine rescue regardless of what their title might be..

[Budawang]

Originally Posted by Catalinagal

In other forums where this has been posted I have seen some downright vicious comments and character attacks. This is unnecessary. As you can imagine, just going through this experience is harrowing enough without the whole sailing community sitting in judgement. No sailor is perfect. We all make mistakes. Let's study the learnings and move on.

Well said. It's perfectly normal for people to want to analyse and understand what happened, including any errors of judgement, but vicious personal attacks reflect the poor character of the people making them. Empathy and sensitivity are required in a situation like this.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by boatman61

My only concern is that folks will believe that a very lucky escape is taken on board as a serious demonstration of stability leading the inexperienced into taking chances and getting into situations they otherwise may never have risked..
But then I am chicken and prefer to avoid testing boats limits..

I'd say most people would look at the video and think "they were lucky to get out of that the way they did"

I can't see it encouraging people to take risks.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by chrisr

but you never ever go over a bar on an outgoing tide

Please explain for the newbies here