NZ boaters lucky to be alive

Maritime NZ is reporting that two very lucky boaties have been rescued from Cape Jackson in the Marlborough Sounds after their 10m launch was wrecked on rocks. This follows another lucky escape for cruising sailors in the remote Niue area just a few weeks earlier.

The wet and cold pair on Cape Jackson in the Marlboough Sound on the tip of NZ's South Island had been stranded on the rocks for 11 hours with no way to call for help. Their lifejackets were found on the beach.

"They’ve escaped with their lives. The boat was smashed to bits,” says Senior Search and Rescue Officer Mike Roberts.

"These men ignored the safety basics. Learn from their example, if you’re heading out on the water. Take two waterproof ways to communicate — preferably a marine VHF radio and a distress beacon and wear your lifejacket. Know your limitations and those of your vessel.

"Always tell somebody ashore where and when you’re going, and when you expect to be back.

"You've got to be prepared for emergencies. Most accidents occur suddenly, with no warning," Mr Roberts said in what is good advice to all boaters

"There may be no time to grab a lifejacket, and it’s extremely difficult to put on a lifejacket in the water. Many boaties drown less than 200 metres from shore."

SPOTTED ON THE ROCKS
A passing boat saw the men and raised the alarm with Maritime Operations Centre (MOC, maritime radio) who passed it to Rescue Coordination Centre NZ at 10.45am on September 1, 2017.

RCCNZ tasked Garden City Helicopters, Nelson, which ended the pair’s ordeal by plucking them from the rocks. The rescued men were checked at Blenheim Hospital.

The Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) is New Zealand’s national search and rescue organisation. RCCNZ is responsible for a search and rescue region, which covers 30 million square kilometres stretching from Antarctica almost to the equator.

REMOTE YACHT RESCUE
The above rescue follows that of a British family who were saved off a reef southeast of Niue just a few weeks earlier (August 27, 2017), when their 15m catamaran Avanti ran aground in heavy seas.

The RCCNZ received their distress call and coordinated with a nearby yacht anchored inside the reef to retrieve the couple and their two children.

RCCNZ Senior Search and Rescue Officer Geoff Lunt says the family were very lucky a yacht happened to be anchored nearby, as Beveridge Reef is a remote 400km south east of Niue and there were no other vessels anywhere in the vicinity.

"The skipper of a 18-metre steel ketch Dona Catharina answered the emergency radio call from our Maritime Operations Centre within seven minutes.  It was very fortunate they were anchored in the lagoon and listening to the distress channel at 2.30am."

The stranded yacht was taking on water but was well aground on the reef.  This enabled the rescue crew to wait until daylight, around 6.30am, to take a dinghy outside of the reef and collect the family.

Geoff says the family left their yacht, which is likely to break up on the reef, with just their passports.

Boaters and sailors heading into the South Pacific should be up to date with Maritime NZ website.