Yeah definitely no good Andy. Gotta be switched on, particularly when your the skipper and you've got a big swell running.

Condolences to the families involved. Hope the 4th POB survives some how.

Whats the likelihood of making it to shore up that way? Never fished at Staggies Reef my self.

John

Breaks all along with that size swell John, inside the reef there are several minor reefs, so a 3km swim would get you home to dry land (mainly beaches all along the coast so a landing is fine) but you would have to traverse a few rough bits about 1.5nm offshore. All depends on how far north they were and how fast any current was running.

I truly hope we get some good news and the last man is found alive.

My old man rang my place as soon as it came on the news to make sure it wasn;t me out there. Certainly brings it close to home when its your home port and the waters you fish regularly.

Heres the trap

It's a long weekend and you want to fish but the seas are 3.5 - 4 meters!

Under the "rule of tens" you shouldn't be out there in anything under a 35 - 40 ft boat MINIMUM!

When the long weekends the only time you get off work to fish - the temptation to "risk it" is pretty high, isn't it?

Also - this early in the season the water temps are COLD - read fatally cold - I'm really sorry to be the one to say this - but anyone lost in that temp water without a bouyancy vest (life jacket) basically is toast after about 3 hours max according to the immersion tables...

I recall losing a work colleage in the sinking off Busselton about this time a year quite few years back, where 3 drowned, and the 4th was saved by the news chopper 7 am the next morning! All of them were wearing life jackets and the 3 skinny ones didn' make it thru the night, to morning - due to hypothermia. The guy who did make it was about my build (yeah a big phat pr!ck) and his core body temp took longer to drop to fatal than his shipmates.

Theres no easey way to say this - but he's gone - period...sad as it may be - the rescue authorities know this, but for the sake of familys etc they won't make such a declaration until tomorrow.

Only a few years back it was the guy with his two step kids off stragglers reef in September where his defacto wife made it to the rocks and was picked up by a passing boat!

Don't matter if it's fishing off the rocks or from a boat - the water temps this time of year are fatal without a vest in about 2.5 - 3 hours tops, same thing was proved at Black point when the 3 members of the Srtallard family were lost fishing off black point @ easter,...something to keep in the back of the mind for anyone boating at this time of season..just coz the airs warmed up doesn't mean the water has.

So..

The risks are, a boat out in conditions twice the size it's safe in, and water temps cold enough to kill you.....

So ask yourself these two questions:-

1. Are the survivial immersion tables part of the recreational skippers ticket?

2. Is the rule of 10's a part of the RST?
If not I guess one has good reason to ask why not?
I hope it's no one from our web community, and that everyone is safe - perhaps there are lessons to be learned from the incident....for those not already aware!

Lastly for whoever saoid they were hoping to go Monday when the seas were supposed to be down to 2.5 - 3.... I'm guessing you have a boat 25 - 30 ft MINIMUM?

If not you ought be fishing a river / estuary or some other protected water. You guys in your 16 - 18 footers need to wake up that combined seas & swell of 1.5 - 1.8 is about your OUTSIDE limit you shpould be considering going out in!

Yes - there MAY be times when you can get away with it a bit bigger, but they are few and far between - better to err on the side of caution.

Cheers!

"Piscator, non solum piscator" - "A fisherman, not just a catcher of fish"

http://www.flywest.com.au

That's pushing the limits for sure in a 4m swell.

One of my mates is a volunteer sea rescue guy, I will give him a call and see what the inside story is if he was on duty today.

I was keen but I called the trip off after checking the seabreeze forecast for tomorrow. Then I heard the news and it just confirmed my decision. John

wouldnt be neone off of here would it?....hope not

Those slim fitting auto inflateables are a great idea if anglers/boaters wear them AND carry a PLB (Personal locator beacon or pocket epirb) essentially meaning you can be rescued before hypothermia kills you. Barring a Noah attack - you might be saved!.

That said - the inflateables probably shouldn't be considered a "replacement" for a full SOLAS vest.

I recall seeing a show on ABC TV investigating stuffups from the Canberra Search & Rescue coordinating authority when it was being run by some politicians but of scruff on the side - who had never paddled a canoe in her life! :Rollseyes:

One was about a pro fish boat that went down 20 miles south west of Strahan on the west coast of Tassie... The dopey sheila in charge of Rescue in Canberra basically didn't plot the Epirb co ordinates correctly (even tho it was a 406 type, capable of plotting within a few yards).

She made an assumption it was a false activation from inside Strahan fishing boat harbour...and didn't put any rescue mission into action!
Anyway - the skipper had a inflateable life jacket on and the deckhand used a SOLAS vest outta the boats locker.

The two of them swam almost 20 miles to shore...the skippers vest developed a slow leak due to the wear action of his swimming strokes and he had to keep stopping to re-inflate it by mouth, via the tube...

About 150 meters from the beach - the last thing the deckie heard was the skipper say he was just too tired and couldn't inflate it anymore - the deckie couldn't find him in the dark to do it for him and when the deckie made the beach - the skipper was gone - body never recovered.

So - the Deckie swore on national TV that in his opinion, had the skipper worn the boats SOLAS vest, instead of the fancy inflateable vest - he woulda likely made it to the beach and been saved!.

The deckie towed the epirb beacon (406 type) with them the whole way to the beach, and they weren't rescued - he had to walk the 20 miles to town to raise the damn alarm with the police.

I think theres a lesson in that, - the inflateable is good if it means you will wear it, and IF the Personal Locator Beacon is in the pocket of the inflateable vest AND if those darn idiots in Canberra Rescue Authority listen to the dsitress signal, and don't discount it, you just might get rescued before you drown from hypothermia....

But - if your boats going down and you have a choice - grab the boats SOLAS vest in preference to the inlateable, even if you only attach it with a piece of rope and tow it along behind you should the need arise!.

Where the inflateable is good - is that people might be wearing it all the time while fishing and in the event they go over for example while taking a pee, they immediately have a vest on.

Nothing in this world is perfect, not vests, or epirbs, or the rescue authorities themselves, but in an ideal world - any of the three (inflateable SOLAS and EPIRB) will probably increase your chances of being saved.

One thing I can tell you.

If I, were the rescue authority, and the story came to me from fellow shipmates already saved - that you were lost without a vest and or epirb, it WOULD influence my allocation of resources overnight to keep searching for you.

In the event you had a vest, I'd assume you were going to survive at LEAST 7 hours maybe more if your a fat fella, and so I'd keep people out there looking all night even if it was endangering their lives to a degree, since there was a fair chance you might be found alive. However, if I'm told - your not wearing a vest and missing - I'd be scaling back to a body recovery mission the following morning, after searching 3 or 4 hours the day you were lost, so as to minimise needless further risk to my search volunteers!

So essentially - the measures YOU take determine how hard the searchers will look for you and what expense of resources might be utilised...in those critical hours overnight.

If your wearing a vest it's worth bringin in from interstate if necessary, a air craft with infrared (body heat) detecting equipment, to search thru the night, but if your not wearing the vest then save the search resource $, because there will be no body heat from someone whos core body temp has lowered after 3 or 4 hours to the point they drowned from hypothermia...

So, your "common practices" in terms of life vests and wearing thereof, as related to the search authorities by your next of kin, who you filed your float plan with, helps to decide what search resources, are utilised thru the night, to look for you..

At the end of the day - a lot of whether we are saved or not, comes down to us, and what we normally do as a matter of course, in our fishing habits..with regard to wearing vests and carrying epirbs.

This is a subject that should be covered in much greater detail for boaters IMHO!

Cheers

"Piscator, non solum piscator" - "A fisherman, not just a catcher of fish"

http://www.flywest.com.au

Short answer........they shouldn't of been out there in a small boat (dingy size) especially in those conditions!

High swell, very dangerous and the lack of wind gives ppl this false sense of safety!

Stormy Jackets (lifesaving auto or manual inflate jackets) are good, RST will help but many boaties need to use common sense more so!

Not good to hear of this tragedy!

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sad news indeed, i was out there in a pretty small boat myself and tryin to find a safe passage over the 3 mile was a task but we did it slowly but surely. In future ill think ill stay in bed in 4m swells as the fishin wasnt that crash hot anyway!

This tragedy is very close to home for me, not only because the area this happened in is my regular fishing grounds, but also since I have just found out that I have an indirect connection to the guys involved.

The guys onboard were all singaporean airforce guys stationed at Pearce.

Apparently according to one of my neighbours down the street, a new neighbour who recently moved next door to them (I don;t know him personally) is a work colleague of the guys on the boat and was due to head out with them that day but his wife convinced him it was too rough and he would get sick so he stayed behind. Very lucky chap.

Coincidentally I have another friend who is a senior Singaporean pilot and work colleague of the guys involved and I only put the connection together this evening as I had no idea they were all pilots. Naturally he and the guys at the base are all pretty distraut by the events of the weekend. Some of the guys involved had only been in the country for a few months.

Very sad affair and perhaps a wake-up call for a few boaties that take a few too many risks out there. The sea is very unforgiving and should never be underestimated.

Again, my sincere condolances to the families touched both directly and indirectly by this tragedy.

had a couple of the singaporean pilot instructors from Pearce used to come fly fishing with me years back Andy...One Kalvin Chin, have you heard any names?

Cheers!

"Piscator, non solum piscator" - "A fisherman, not just a catcher of fish"

http://www.flywest.com.au

Certainly had some bad luck those Singaporean pilots. Were'nt some of them involved in a fatal plane crash a few years ago.

Condolences to all concerned.

John