Marine Rescue Trial Bay in midnight tow for disabled yacht
by Ken McManus on 18 Jan 2015
"Quatro Viento” safe after Marine Rescue Trial Bay tow Ken McManus
In what should have been a leisurely cruise home to Coffs Harbour from Sydney with a newly acquired yacht, a mechanical failure off Hat Head south of Trial Bay last night, meant the skipper and two companions on the vessel needed help.
The skipper contacted Marine Rescue Coffs Harbour who alerted local MRNSW Regional Controller, John Murray who called in volunteers from the Trial Bay unit which was closer to the helpless yacht that was located some 16 nautical miles south.
The 8m (26ft) yacht, 'Quatro Vientos' (Four Winds), had no winds last night in the area and the vessel was drifting towards the coast.
In good sea and weather conditions, offshore rescue vessel Trial Bay 30 made speed for the drifting yacht and reached it by 11:00pm. All aboard were in good condition and a long slow tow back to the safety of Trial Bay was completed at 1:30am this morning.
MRNSW Mid North Coast Regional Controller John Murray said, 'This is the second long tow of over 30 nautical miles round trip that Trial Bay 30 has had in less than three weeks. On December 30th three fishermen were rescued after running out of fuel in a 6.5m fishing boat 15nm offshore'.
'This demonstrates the value of the extensive fleet replacement program being undertaken by Marine Rescue NSW. Trial Bay 30 is one of over 50 new and extensively refurbished vessels bought by Marine Rescue NSW at a cost of around $13 million in the past five years.
'Across our eight Marine Rescue units on the NSW Mid North Coast, we now have four Naiad vessels which are built in Yamba and two Stebers which are built in Taree, as well as several jet ski Rescue Water Craft. All of these vessels have been involved in life-saving rescues since their introduction to this region.'
Marine Rescue NSW urges all boaters to make safety their priority on the water. The Australia Day weekend will be here next week and this offers boaters the last holiday weekend of summer to get out and enjoy our magnificent waterways.
Get into this proven safety habit. Put on your lifejacket when you get on your boat, and Log On and Log Off with your local Marine Rescue radio base so if anything prevents you from Logging Off someone responsible will know you’re still out there and action will be taken to start looking for you.'
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