Sail-World.com : ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy Race - All sailors return to safety
ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy Race - All sailors return to safety
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'Race heros-the crew of Trybooking.com: L to R, Peter Fetch, Ross Fisher, Grant Dunoon, Skipper and Kim Walker - ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy Race 2012'
Jennifer Cook
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ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy Race - This morning all crews are safe as the scattered racing fleet limped into safe harbours.
The boats in the fleet were hammered by big confused seas whipped up by storm force winds gusting up to 70 knots at times. Six crew members from Inception were forced to abandon ship and were rescued from the water by another race competitor Trybooking.com.
During the night Inception was pounded by big seas and took on water and sunk. At the time they were approximately 7 miles off the coast and roughly half way between Cape Otway and Warnambool. Reports say the life raft was ripped from its deck fasteners by huge seas and washed overboard forcing the six crew to abandon ship and leap into the chilly water. The boat’s EPIRB and the crews personal location beacons (PLB’s) were activated and the GPS distress signal was quickly picked up by Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) in Canberra who alerted the ORCV’s incident response team. Race Director, Ray Shaw headed the incident response team and coordinated the local search and rescue in Port Fairy. As part of the response team, Ray was supported by Peter Clancy, from Ocean Racing Melbourne. Peter is the resident radio operator well known to many competitors through the regular radio scheds. He was in constant contact with all the boats during the race posting updates and logging their positions and ETA’s.
In dangerous conditions communications with all boats and shore support crews is crucial. The ORCV has implemented a number of communication advances that have improved safety in this sport. Through the use of the dedicated tracker system on their website the ORCV’s incident response team was able to quickly identify Trybooking.com as the closest boat nearby the disabled yacht. They also used an extensive log of crew and boat details to contact next of kin by phone and keep them informed by SMS updates and website reporting throughout the race.
Using constant position updates of the Inception crews PLB signals, received by AMSA in Canberra, Peter Clancy was able to direct Trybooking.com via VHF to the position of the crew in the water. This is no mean feat in dark and stormy conditions, and big confused seas that obscure detection of smaller objects in the water.
This successful rescue was a testament to the comprehensive training and education programs set by the ORCV and has always been a hallmark of all ORCV activities. To enter a race all crews and boats must have attained mandatory levels of safety accreditation and training The actions of the crew of Inception during their time in the water significantly improved their chances of survival. All crew were wearing their safety harnesses and once in the water they managed to clip themselves together using the tether lines on their harness. Once banded together as a human raft they supported each other and held their strobe lights above their heads to make themselves more visible to the rescue helicopter and the rescue vessel Trybooking.com.
In a superb display of seamanship and heroism the four crew on board Try.booking.com plucked the six Inception crew members from the cold waters and gave them warm clothes and drinks then resumed their progress to Port Fairy, at times making only one knot of headway in still treacherous seas.
The crew of Trybooking.com must be commended for their valiant display of seamanship and camaraderie in the rescue of the Inception crew. They themselves were also feeling weary having already spent more than four hours battling 5 to 6 meter seas in exceptional weather conditions. Trybooking.com were also in survival mode and slowly inching their way towards the closest safe harbor of Port Fairy in a sustained blasts of 40 to 50 knots winds with gusts up to 70 knots at times. The Trybooking.com crew were wet and cold and becoming fatigued as they fought to balanced the boat in the very big seas and shelter from the constant spray of green water lashing the decks.
 | Trybooking.com coming up the Moyne River, Port Fairy to the cheers of the crowds lining the river - ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy Race 2012 - Jennifer Cook |
Trybooking.com with all sailors safely onboard were escorted into Port Fairy river to the cheers of crowds lining the river around 10.30am this morning by the Port Fairy Rescue boat. A fleet of ambulances were waiting to the ferry crew to hospital if required. One crew member was reported to be suffering from mild hyperthermia and as a precaution was admitted to hospital for a routine observation. All crew were clearly very pleased to be in Port Fairy and are being well cared for by the Commodore and members of the Port Fairy Yacht Club.
by Jennifer Cook
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http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=95787
5:32 AM Sat 7 Apr 2012GMT
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