Offshore rescue a success

Volunteers from Marine Rescue Cottage Point were tested in a demanding eight-hour offshore operation on Saturday (March 28), retrieving an overturned ski boat to prevent it becoming a navigation and pollution hazard in open waters.

While on morning patrol in Broken Bay, the crew of Cottage Point 20 was flagged down by the skipper of a passing ski boat, advising that another ski boat had overturned to the north of Broken Bay. The boat’s crew had taken the skipper of the upturned vessel on board.

The 21ft Bullet ski boat had been taking part in the Harbour to Hawkesbury Poker Run, an offshore fundraising event from Rose Bay to Brooklyn, when it hit a large wave at some speed, taking on a substantial amount of water.

With its bilge pumps unable to cope with the volume of water, it capsized and was floating offshore north of Broken Bay, posing both a potential navigation and pollution hazard.

The NSW Police Marine Area Command launch Nemesis, traveling to Newcastle for a Search and Rescue Exercise with MRNSW units, began searching for the overturned boat south of Terrigal, with CP 20 tasked to search the offshore areas from Box Head north.

Nemesis located the overturned vessel two miles south-east of Copacabana, just south of Avoca Beach, at 11.30am, requesting CP20 to take it under tow,

Skipper John Bensley and crew members Marcus Collignon, Patrick O’Brien and Jackson Barry headed a further four miles north-east in fine conditions with light to moderate south east winds, although a two-metre rolling south-east swell with a one-metre sea made for a challenging  passage.

The seas and currents had moved the ski boat almost 0.5nm north by the time CP20 arrived on scene. A towline was eventually secured to the boat in the rolling swell. The fibreglass boat was a heavy load and despite CP20 having 300hp of power available, towing speed was restricted to 2-3 knots in the lumpy seas.

After a four-hour journey, CP20 reached the sheltered Lobster Beach, at the entrance to Brisbane Waters.

Manoeuvring the 21ft boat to the beach took a huge effort but after a number of attempts, the crew pulled it into the shallows. Filled with water, the boat was still very heavy to right, requiring the assistance of a crew from MR Central Coast and people on the beach. CP 20’s large salvage pump took more than 90 minutes to empty the boat before it could be refloated and towed to Parsley Bay, this time at a healthy speed of 10 knots.

After starting the operation at 9.30am, the tired crew returned to base at 6.00pm, having covered more than 42 nautical miles in a variety of conditions and using more than 200 litres of fuel.

While the ski boat was a little worse for wear following its overturning in rough seas and long passage back, the owner thanked the crew for their outstanding effort in returning his beloved boat to safety.