Catamaran Rescue off Ulladulla NSW Australia

[Ozbullwinkle]

From.the Marine Rescue NSW Facebook Page

Three crew on board an 11 metre catamaran en route to Bermagui had a dramatic rescue today (30 Nov 2021) after their vessel, purchased just days earlier, began taking on water after hitting a sunfish13 nautical miles east of Green Island near Ulladulla.

The crew of the catamaran sent out a Mayday at 1255 and activated their EPIRB, climbing into two dinghies to await rescue.

Marine Rescue Ulladulla rescue vessel UL30 was responded, and with guidance from a Royal Australian Navy helicopter from HMAS Albatross that had been deployed to assist, and the signal from the crew's EPIRB, quickly located the striken vessel. The Naval helicopter remained after their arrival with life rafts ready to drop should they have been required.

Arriving at the stricken catamaran just after 2pm, UL30 took the crew of three on board and then delivered them safely back to dry land at Ulladulla, with all on board safe and well.

A securite is current for all ships in the area advising a navigational hazard from the sinking vessel at 35 17.427 South 150 46.656 East.

The crew on UL30 were Skipper Lesley Kelly, Warwick Haslam, Mark Squires, Clive Woodward and radio operator Allan Dean and Watch Officer Keven Marshall.

Speculation so far....

Vessel appears to be a Seawind, possibly a 1000XL.

The sunfish most likely tore the rudder off to allow water ingress, unlikely that the hull was holed.

[GRIT]

That's sad. Glad everyone got out ok.

If anyone gets an update as to where the water was entering the boat, I'm sure readers of this thread would appreciate an update.

Cheers.
Paul.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Since the rescue conditions have been very good & would be perfect for a salvage attempt. You could not get a better weather window.

There is a large commercial fishing fleet in Ulladulla harbour as well who could assist.

I really hope that the vessel is salvaged to allow for a detailed examination of the damage sustained & also for the owner to retrieve his cat which hopefully was insured after purchase.

[smj]

Looks like a Seawind 1000. Surprised it went that far down.

[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by smj

Looks like a Seawind 1000. Surprised it went that far down.

It is a Seawind 1000.

[carlosproa]

I wonder if it was spawning season. I herd males can be territorial and these are heavy large fishes, 6 ft by 8 ft? The ones I ever saw look a lot smaller but who knows?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by carlosproa

I wonder if it was spawning season. I herd males can be territorial and these are heavy large fishes, 6 ft by 8 ft? The ones I ever saw look a lot smaller but who knows?

They can weigh over 2 tonne!

[Ozbullwinkle]

Originally Posted by carlosproa

I wonder if it was spawning season. I herd males can be territorial and these are heavy large fishes, 6 ft by 8 ft? The ones I ever saw look a lot smaller but who knows?

Sunfish are not aggressive toward boats as they are unable to propel themselves forward at any speed due to not having any tail at all. I have seen lots of them on the surface over the years and they are just ambling through the ocean & cannot even maintain a straight track & their dorsal fin is often out of the water as they move along slowly like a drunken sailor.

This is why they get hit by so many boats as they simply cannot quickly move out of the way of an approaching vessel.

As I mentioned above I really hope that a salvage operation is underway as such a thing is attractive to the local trawler captains as they have to spend a lot of hours at sea & catch a real lot of fish to equal catching a $200K+ yacht.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Ozbullwinkle

The sunfish most likely tore the rudder off to allow water ingress, unlikely that the hull was holed.

So there is no collision bulkheads on a Seawind sealing off steerage from main living?
How about in the bows?

[donradcliffe]

It looks quite salvageable. From the tidy jib furl and the mainsail cover, it appears that the boat was not under sail. I also note the liferaft was in the water, but not inflated.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

It looks quite salvageable. From the tidy jib furl and the mainsail cover, it appears that the boat was not under sail. I also note the liferaft was in the water, but not inflated.

Yes, I agree that it looks like it would have been motoring also due to the very light winds at the time of the incident. I also noticed the liferaft valise floating at the stern

Hopefully she can be salvaged with the help of an airbag attached to the starboard side unless it kept on submerging & ended up upside down which would make the operation a lot more difficult.

[Seaslug Caravan]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

So there is no collision bulkheads on a Seawind sealing off steerage from main living?
How about in the bows?

Sadly this is not news to many.
We discussed a similar incident with the same result, awhile back , on these boards, when a Seawind anchored a little close to an obstruction hammered the rudders up through the hulls near Exmouth WA.

Catamaran owners can easily sort out their collision bulkhead issues, but It appears that maybe apathy or ignorance is stopping them.

I hope all catamaran owners take note and make their boats safer.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Seaslug Caravan

Sadly this is not news to many.
We discussed a similar incident with the same result, awhile back , on these boards, when a Seawind anchored a little close to an obstruction hammered the rudders up through the hulls near Exmouth WA.

Catamaran owners can easily sort out their collision bulkhead issues, but It appears that maybe apathy or ignorance is stopping them.

I hope all catamaran owners take note and make their boats safer.

It should be done at the build stage.

Any cat I ave been involved in has had 1 if not 2 full height watertight bulkheads fwd and the same aft, usually the back beam bulkhead.
Could lose a few feet of boat at either end and still have watertight integrity.

I guess these days the quest to use every available mm of boat for storage of "stuff" outweighs safety.
Seems a backward step.

[team karst]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

...

I guess these days the quest to use every available mm of boat for storage of "stuff" outweighs safety.
Seems a backward step.

fenders and MT fuel jugs are kept in my forward "crash" lockers. Actually, more space up there than what I know what to do with..

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

It should be done at the build stage.

Any cat I ave been involved in has had 1 if not 2 full height watertight bulkheads fwd and the same aft, usually the back beam bulkhead.
Could lose a few feet of boat at either end and still have watertight integrity.

I guess these days the quest to use every available mm of boat for storage of "stuff" outweighs safety.
Seems a backward step.

I’m particularly surprised by this also. Seawind has a lot of great innovations. And so many well-thought-out details.

I’m shocked watertight bulkheads weren’t one of them.

My boat was built exactly how you described. 2 watertight bulkheads forward, then one aft, but rudders aren’t even inside the boat anyway. They are external.