Dissappointed
Hey Guys.
Ive got a story that a friend told me the other day wich really made me wonder what the world is coming to. He told me how he left Hillaries marina to try his luck with some morning fishing. He headed south along the coast in his tinny.
He got a Few km,s down when the engine decided to die. He tryed for a period of time to try and start it but to no avail. After checking all the obvious things and having a good look at every thing he decided that he had no option but to try and get somebody to assist. There were at least four or more boats in the general area that he tryed to gain the attention of to no avail.After another period of time trying to start the engine he decided reluctantly to set off a flare. This is the dissapointing thing. Not one person came to assist. Even a surf lifesaver was seen observing the flare from shore but appeared to not be concernd. Now I could understand maybe one or two boats happen to not see the flare. But four boats not seeing a flare in broad daylight.
That to me is unacceptable. The boats were close enought to see how many were aboard so there is no excuse. Now regardless of the situation or weather a flare is a flare and when I see someone set one off Im definatly going to respont to assist. But hey thats just me. Maybe the fact that theres a chance that whoever responds might have to get this guy back to the boat ramp is just to much to ask of some people. God forbid we interupt your fishing time to help a fellow fisherman. Who I might add would go out off his way to help anyone else.
Anyway I just didnt think that people were still like that. Its Dissapointing. By the way im not having a go at anyone in particular Just bringing this fact to every ones attention. Ill be interested in hearing anyones opinion on this matter. PS; Sorry about the spelling mistakes my proof reader is asleep.
bod
Posts: 2319
Date Joined: 03/05/06
what happened?
what eventually happened to the guy...
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15648
Date Joined: 29/11/05
Sad
Bit of a sad state of affairs there Tapout.
I've just been down viewing the remains of my brothers vz ss. Sometimes you just have to question what sort of people are out there.
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TAPOUT
Posts: 885
Date Joined: 27/01/06
Lucky
Yeh sorry guys. He kept checking the engine and eventually got it started and headed straight back to the ramp. He spent about 2 hours trying to get the engine started but. Apparently weed had got caught in the water intake on the way out and overheated the engine. Not sure what permanent dammage has been done though. Its a law that you have to carry flares but whats the point if no one cares if you set one off anyway. Its certainly changed my mind on how safe I feel when out on the water even with other boats near by.
streetfighter80
Posts: 1079
Date Joined: 12/02/06
Bloody Disgusting
the people around should be fined i am so bloody glad they are bringing in recreational boat lic i did mine 6 yrs ago best thing i have ever done when it comes boat skills
Fly
Posts: 485
Date Joined: 04/02/06
There is a legal obligation
There is a legal obligation to assist!
That said - if your broken down - how do you go get the numbers on the vessels that didn't assist?
Pretty sad state of affairs!
Having said that, it is indicative we are following the state of affairs in the USA where hardly anyone will assist unless your on fire or in the water drowning!.
They of course have:-
-10:1 odds the guys a putz should never be let loose with a boat
-Boat Tow US & Sea TOW whos job it is to tow and recover stranded broken down boats
-Coastgaurd - whos job it is to rescue boats in distress,
-Not a lot of free time to go fishing - to be able to spare the time to tow every bonehead that breaks down
-The cost of fuel meaning a decision to help a bonehead probably costs over $2000 on top of the cost of lost fishing day for everyone aboard.
So, in the USA at least, it is quite common for breakdowns to be dealt with by:-
Calling the tow co with someones mobile ph, or radioing the coastguard etc with your position - waiting till help arrives as a courtesy and then continuing with the days fishing.
Here - we would like to think that the good ol days still remain and we aren't under the same situation.
Truthfully we work longer hours than we ever did (we are no longer the land of the long weekend!).
Our fuel is so expensive that a day spent towing instead of fishing could be worth a LOT of $ (especially if at the end you get a Thanks Mate" toothy grin from the bonehead as your "reward/recompense".
Never mind it cost 10 bucks worth of ice, 20 bucks worth of bait, 500 worth of fuel and a precious fine weather calm saes black almanac / tides lost days recreation with friends!
We do have Sea Tow membership avalable now for only $140 a year!
We do have volunteer sea rescue who charge for towing as a way to make up the funding shortfall between govt grants and real operating costs.
All to help some bonehead you find drifting out past Rottnest in a 12 ft tinny he got cheap off the Quokka, with one oar and a half a housebrick on a ball of butchers string as his anchor!
I can see why some boaters are now becomming so cynical.
I know of professional cray fishers - who at the right time of the season might be pulling $30 - 40 K worth of lobster a day from their pots...who come accross said bonehead in dingy and are legally obligated to assist him.
Usually - to teach said bonehead a lesson - they will tie his boat to the cray pot rope / float and leave him there till they finnish pulling all their gear and collect him for a tow on the way home!
This way he gets well n truly sunburnt, seasick, dehydrated, etc, etc, and learns it ain't no fun to be a bonehead in a boat!
With regards to our volunteer rescue service - well - my advice is not to set to sea expecting much help from them.
Only yesterday the Marine Transport safety guy came to do my annual vessel survey!. One of the tests is a vhf radio call to the local sea rescue for a radio check. I did one last Saturday no problem!
So Monday and we do the same and....silence is the answer - no one home! :Rollseyes:
The govt bout the local rescue group a $0.5 million new rescue boat!
Last week, I get a call about 4 am from local plod saying can I help -they have a boat broken down in the estuary channel, and no way to rescue it because the volunteers wont't come out midweek and their nearest boat is in fremantle! :rollseyes:.
It's 4 guys full to the gills with woobla and out of fuel! :Rollseyes:
When they drifted in to the bank, Plod took em back to their motel rooms to sleep it off! :rollseyes:.
The local mandurah Sea Search and Rescue people pleaded with me NOt to take up the Local Mandurah Sea Tow Granchise because I would "send them broke" if they didn't get the donations from breakdown towing that they currently get to make up their annual funding shortfall!
So - not wanting to get a volunteer group offside I agreed!
Now I can't get em on the radio coz no ones home and they don't want to do mid week rescues - and I get asked to do them for gratis! :Rollseyes:
So - one has to start to ask - just how safe are we relying on the usual raft of services like water police, sea rescue etc etc...
Basically IMHO - it boils down too:-
1. Don't break down
2. If you do have Sea Tow Insurance
3. Carry a radio, mobile phone and or sat phone
4. The usual resue people are the LAST ones you want to be counting on
5. You can no longer rely on fellow fishermen!
Thats about it in a nutshell people!
Cheers!
Salmo
Posts: 913
Date Joined: 15/08/05
Maybe a set of oars for the
Maybe a set of oars for the tinnie would be a good present????
Cant believe people didnt go have a rubbaneck....what if ythe guy was in serious trouble???