Had a mate from in the same caravan park come round this arvo to let me know that another resident hadn't returned from his fishing trip.

He said he was launching from Pelican point ramp and was supposed to be heading north of the river mouth about 800 metres to give clearance from the netting restrictions. Checked the ramp and his car was still there so notified a crew for the rescue boat and we headed out.

Checked the river mouth and kept heading north as the sun went down, we were almost to the point of turning round because of fading light when we spotted a red flare another 1+1/2 nm further north.

There he was, 75, soaking wet and shivering like a dog shirting razor blades, boat high and dry and half full of sand from where he'd been swamped by a wave as he was pulling his set net in. Got him on board and into some dry clothes and skull dragged his boat, sand and all back in to the water.

Could only tow it at around 8 knots because of the weight in the boat so it became a slow run home.

After last weeks Quobba / Blowholes fatality and the fruitless hours our crews have put in it was nice to have a good result and hopefully, though I won't be holding my breath, our rescuee won't trouble us again and make his tally up to 6 times.
Luckily for him he had told someone roughly where he was going , had flares on board but no return time or no radio or mobile phone to contact anyone if things went pearshaped.