Yachtie Rescued Off Tasmania's East Coast

[GILow]

Originally Posted by chrisr

no, not humour



the wind in australia is well known to blow dogs off chains...and drop bears out of trees



cheers,

Puts a fair bit of speed on the hoop-snakes too.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by LittleWing77

Are you serious? Or is this some obscure form of Aussie humour?



LittleWing77

It tells you as much about Australian weather as it does about Australian humour that I wasn’t sure if EP was joking either.

[RaymondR]

Dogs also figure in over night temperatures. A bit nippy might be called "a two dog night."

[fxykty]

Depending on the weather, it could also be “who let the dogs out?”

Why do we call them “puppies”?

I’ve also heard people to refer to their feet as “dogs”.

Weird, eh?

Back to rescue services, in NZ the coast guard is a volunteer organisation that funds itself, and gets about half of its funding from the national government through various charities (one is Lotto) and a small permanent operations budget. NZ Police have the jurisdiction for maritime rescue and assign coast guard resources as needed. Our unit can claim as expenses any costs related to a tasking from NZ Police, but we have to do our own fundraising for training and boat costs (operational and capital). The unit is pretty much full time raising funds in various ways, with half a dozen volunteers spending a couple hours every week chasing donations. We get the occasional capital grant to help with new engines or a new boat. The chase boats for the AC organising committee were designed to a coast guard specification and will be repainted and gifted to a number of units around the country. Unfortunately for our unit, and others in the Auckland area, we’re considered too rich and will be paying the 900K for a new boat ourselves. They will get the boat a few months after I will have left, sigh.

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Yep, hard to know what happened there Fxy. The conditions had been very stiff for several days, with wide spread gale force+ winds and big seas. IIRC the winds were N'ly quadrant up there, so one thinks he could have run downwind under a scrap of jib (looks ok in the photos) and eventually reached the Shouten passage and gotten into N'ly shelter. That would have been on the order of 65 miles from where he was rescued, and the entrance to the passage would have been kinda rough.

I suspect that fatigue might have been a big factor in the decision to abandon ship. As a singlehander, near shore and in pretty frightful conditions, he had to be near the end of his string, and fatigue can lead to loss of good judgement, fear and collapse. I'm glad that the boat was saved , and that must have been a really good effort on the water police's part. And here in Tassie those guys are the primary rescue folks at sea. I don't know what laws are involved, but such rescues are pretty common... good folks the WP!

Perhaps more news will emerge in the next few days...


Jim

Why speculating about what triggerd the need for rescue?
Unless you are actually there or ask the person involved one never knows.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Icarus

Why speculating about what triggerd the need for rescue?

Unless you are actually there or ask the person involved one never knows.

Well, for a start because well-informed speculation can be educational to the rest of us.

Just saying “oh, he got rescued” and leaving it at that helps none of us.

Jim knows those waters better than most people, certainly better than the vast majority of Aussies.

I, for one, am VERY interested in Jim’s speculations, as I will be sailing that area myself. And unless the sailor himself chooses to update his blog with some background all we can do is speculate.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by GILow

Well, for a start because well-informed speculation can be educational to the rest of us.

Just saying “oh, he got rescued” and leaving it at that helps none of us.

Jim knows those waters better than most people, certainly better than the vast majority of Aussies.

I, for one, am VERY interested in Jim’s speculations, as I will be sailing that area myself. And unless the sailor himself chooses to update his blog with some background all we can do is speculate.

We'll I know floating weed around there can stop an engine dead, it happened to me.
Luckily it was flat calm and I managed to clear it when the sun rose.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by boatman61

We'll I know floating weed around there can stop an engine dead, it happened to me.

Luckily it was flat calm and I managed to clear it when the sun rose.

And I hope, in an attempt to emulate the locals, you tried smoking it once it had dried.

[dannc]

Originally Posted by clownfishsydney

...
However, we received no extra money for fuel...

We do not charge for any rescue, but would expect a donation to cover at least the cost of the fuel we use in a rescue. On the weekend the boat I was helming rescued a yacht which was involved in an accident with another one during a race and which had a badly injured crewman on board. We had to tow it back to a wharf (it ended up with a sheet around the prop) where we were met by ambulance and Police. We received no donation for this as we did not ask for one due to the circumstances, so we are out of pocket a great deal.
...

A few years ago we were docked in Campbelltown, Scotland which has a RNLI station. Their main boat, a Severn class lifeboat, was berthed right across the fair way from us. We went to the station to buy stuff and support the station. We ended up spending quite a bit of time talking to a new volunteer running the store and another volunteer who I suspect was in charge of the station. He ended up giving us a tour of the station, including their rescue boat on a trailer, as well as the big Severn boat. The Severn class is an amazing boat. It is a space ship on water. Amazing. If our memory is right, he said that boat burned 100 gallons an hour at WOT.

That night, we heard the lifeboat power up and they rocked us pretty hard when the left and returned hours later.

The next morning we noticed a small boat 16-20 feet long on a trailer next to the boat ramp which was near us and the lifeboat. The RNLI guy who had given us a tour of the station was standing there so we had a chat.

The lifeboat had gone out the night before to tow that small boat to port when it's engine quit. Two idjots had taken that small boat to NORTHERN IRELAND. They had taken that little boat across the North Channel to get booze. Campeltown has not one but three different distilleries making some VERY good scotch. The RNLI guy said he would not have taken that boat out of the lough and I would not have either. The boat looked to have been made in the 70's, had very low free board and was something you would use on a lake, yet two men thought it would be a could idea to cross the North Channel to get some alcohol.

The lifeboat pulled some of the cleats out of the boat towing it back to safety.

The RNLI station spent more money on fuel than the boat was worth. They did save two lives though. We left port a day or so later and an ultra light had gone down in the North Channel. Not sure if they ever found the body of the pilot.

Our buying stuff and donating some money did not even come close to paying the fuel cost for the rescue of those two men.

The man who gave us a tour of the station was missing an arm. We noticed quite a few men in Ireland and Scotland missing an arm or leg. We guessed they were injuries from fishing.

Later,
Dan

[GILow]

I notice the rescued guy is blogging again. No specific mention of the rescue though.

[HankOnthewater]

Originally Posted by ken_isw

Just like to clear something up here....rescues in Australia are not free and your taxes do not cover the costs. I am an active Member of AVCG and believe me....none of the Volunteer rescue organizations in Australia are Government funded! Ever wondered why we run Sausage Sizzles at Bunnings, Raffles, and other fund raising endeavors? What we can’t raise from the community comes out of our pockets! So the next time you get “rescued” a little donation towards our expenses will be appreciated (and tax deductible)!

We risk our lives for our boating community and happily pay for the privilege of doing it, so when you get the chance a few dollars in the “bucket” may help the next guy! ��

I think the above is not quite right for the whole of Australia, and definitely not for West Oz.
I have been in VMR (volunteer sea rescue) here in WA for 20 years, and since that time slowly state government started to fund the VMR more and more, and now it nearly 100% state funded. As Anthony said in post #38. The downside of this kind of funding is that the government makes the rules of engagement.

So in WA:
- rescue crew are all unpaid volunteers
- no charge for rescues at all, and we do not even ask for donation for fuel anymore as that is reimbursed by state government (DFES). That does not we don't accept donations!!!
- there is no obligation to save property/boat, just people. Even though we likely to tow the boat to safety, there is no law to tell us to do so.
- yes, we will likely to tow the boat as it could become a navigational hazard.
- a new government rule just came in that rescue boats cannot tow other boats with more than 3 times its own displacement. So if you need rescue around here, then bad luck if you weigh in more than 15 tonnes
- some local VMR has a membership structure as a source of income, but some other VMRs do not. You get rescued/towed in whether you are a member or not.