Sinking sailor calls Mum
by Nancy Knudsen on 6 Oct 2012
Hinchinbrook Island SW
They're pretty cool up in Cairns. When a sailor's yacht was sinking this week, he didn't call rescue authorities, he called Mum. I guess when your sailing ground is full of islands, you think you don't need an EPIRB. The man, who has not yet been named, merely took to his dinghy from his sinking yacht, and went to the Hinchinbrook Island Wilderness Lodge for the night.
The problem was, the resort had closed last year after Cyclone Yasi destroyed much of it, so there was no check-in clerk and the room wasn't ready.
He must have been running out of battery-power, as after 'Mum' contacted authorities, they were unable to reach him by phone. However, search and rescue authorities immediately launched a search operation. No distress beacon had been activated.
Meanwhile, in spite of the inconveniences of the Lodge and its lack of welcome, he slept the night at the resort, then the next morning, presumably having turned his phone on, called - his girlfriend.
This was all that was needed as then Ingham Coast Guard was sent to locate the man, 41, from Portsmith, a suburb of Cairns.
He was found, safe and well, if yacht-less, at Cape Richards, on the northern end of Hinchinbrook Island, around 11am.
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