Fishermen Rescued
Fishing with a mate 6 miles off Rockingham on Tuesday morning when we noticed 2 rescue boats heading towards us, within a hundred meters away they veered around us to a boat several hundred meters behind us. We figured they must have broken down, we watched as 4 of them climbed on board one of the rescue boats and then within minutes their boat sunk. What shocked us was we were unaware they were in trouble. We spoke to the rescue team when we came in and it appears they made no effort to contact us as they were panicking trying to bail out boat. One of the guys used his phone to call for help. When you are in trouble and start to pannick logic can go out the door a lesson for all of us. It appears their flares were wet and radio did not work. Luckily for them we are not reading about 4 fishermen drowning.
Tom M
.thumbnail.JPG "A few crabs from the Swan")
beeroclock
Posts: 743
Date Joined: 22/08/12
Good thing it ended with them all ok
sure am glad I just put full floatation into my boat - weather doesn't look real bad from that shot though - do you know if the boat sprung a bad leak
Tom M
Posts: 661
Date Joined: 22/09/15
We believe it was an inboard
We believe it was an inboard motor and leak through the leg.
Tom M
uncle
Posts: 9488
Date Joined: 10/02/07
Working radio and dry flares a must have
Very lucky boys, good thing the phone was working
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
z00m
Posts: 1086
Date Joined: 10/05/14
Glad they are ok
First and foremost I'm really glad they are ok.
But if you have a stern drive and don't make sure you have a good working bilge pump and even better an additional high volume pump and high water alarm then this may happen at some point.
I had a bellows fail on my old boat but the regular bilge pump kept up with it no problem and I motored the boat from Mindarie to Hillarys without sinking.
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
What, whatever happened to calm rational actions
They are imo very lucky people. There are so many questions that could be asked, did you notice if they had a radio antenna, first choice for summoning help rather than a mobile phone, although it must be said that some VHS service don't have a radio operator on duty during winter.
What about a smoke flare, you could have been there in half the time (if they had flares) Where they wearing live preservers.
Just so many questions, however the best answer is all where saved and no body was injured.
Moking
Posts: 1252
Date Joined: 30/05/12
Not good- Now I understand
Not good- Now I understand why the helicopter was buzzing around for such a long time,as I couldn't see anything in the water from where I was.
My Dad taught me how to Fish-Thanks Dad.(RIP)
Tom M
Posts: 661
Date Joined: 22/09/15
We were told they set off a
We were told they set off a white flare but we did not see that, if we had known they required rescuing we were only a minute or 2 from them.
Tom M
uncle
Posts: 9488
Date Joined: 10/02/07
arrrh the value of a radio
and leave it on
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
A white flare
Well that's a novel approach, I thought orange would have been the more appropriate colour to use. But having said that if white is all you have got.
Rob H
Posts: 5806
Date Joined: 18/01/12
Out of curiousity did you
Out of curiousity did you have your radio on?
As Im suprised given the urgency that VMR did not put out a pan pan for any boats in the vicinity who may be able to assist especially when they were told the radio wouldnt work.
White flares are used for drawing attention not emergency, such as when a seismic vessel etc cannot raise a ship on radio to ask them to stay clear.
Not easy to purchase
However any flare is a good thing!
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
Tom M
Posts: 661
Date Joined: 22/09/15
Rob, great question. Our
Rob, great question. Our radio arial was damaged and ripped off on the first and only drift when it tangled with the sea anchor. We attempted to get a signal but no luck.
Tom M
Skull
Posts: 630
Date Joined: 03/01/12
Log on
If they had tried to log on before setting out, they would have realised the radio wasn't working, simple really.
Skull
Saulty2
Posts: 658
Date Joined: 28/05/10
inboard? local paper is saying
4 people on board & 7.3 aluminium,raises new set of issues& questions if such a boat is able to sink .
Rob H
Posts: 5806
Date Joined: 18/01/12
why?
why, not sure what you mean?
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.