Its wasn’t me but I would like to comment. Everyone to themselves however I don’t believe many people assess the risk prior to heading out to sea. That is probably due to the fact that they may not have been in, or experienced any such problems at sea hence the lack of experience on a bad day.It’s not that all people are ignorant to most dangers however some people just don’t look outside the big picture.

A quick example would be ok weather is ok winds picking up by noon should be ok ride home will be a bit rough.Ok now let’s think of the what IF’S.

Motor will not start. Time spent trying to start the motor. Let’s be honest we don’t want to call for help until we have to. Then we call in for help. Then VMR need to call in a crew. Some crew are rostered on ready on weekends but what about weekdays. Time it takes to arrive at your destination. Then the hook up of tow line etc.etc etc. Now what’s the weather like if the forecast was correct in the first place. Now take step back and look at who else we have put at risk.

I was a little pissed when I first heard about the RST coming to effect. I have been a boat owner for many of years, but I’m not afraid to say that I did walk away from it knowing that I learnt something from it.Education is the key. Let’s hope these fellows if they were at risk learnt from the day and think twice next time.

Experience is a hard teacher first comes the test then the Lesson. 

Garry 

Its a bit late to head home early.

kinda agree.

Ive put my tinne into some stupid places, but it doesnt just come down to risk, it comes down to knowing what your boat can do and cant do and how well you or the person your with can handle it.

No doubt about it, accidents do happen, but if your prepared, eyes open and experienced enough, most situations are avoidable (IE coming back in in a 25knot south wester.)

Yep gonna be rough, but if you know what your boat can do then each to their own i say.

I have been down hamelin bay a few times with a tinny and cray pots right up on breaking reefs. Pulled my pots, got back into the ramp and some guys who came in after us came up and said we were idiots.

Now to the naked eye, probably yes you would think that, but knowing the water, the waves, the boat we were in no real danger.

I have also been over to rotto in a 2.5m swell with a pumping 60km south wester to try retieve my mates cray pots before he went over seas.

Now that was rough as guts and wet. We were in a 25ft glass centre console, and yep it was crazy shit!!! but knowing the driver, the boat, and the water we were in no real danger in my mind.

Bu anchoring 20m from the rocks.... I'd question doing that in any boat.

Quote "I don’t believe many people assess the risk prior to heading out to sea"

I think most people who go boating regularly which make up the majority of traffic on the water would assess the risk, i know i do every trip and im sure other experienced boaties out there would do the same

http://fishwrecked-reeltime.com/

Sorry guys if I offended you I should have made my comments more clear. I was thinking more along the lines of the beginners and the inexperienced.

I am sure we have done things that if we thought about it probably wouldn’t do it again.There are many of us that know our boat limits and fish accordingly but there are many still learning.

I had a Chivers Seamaster 21ft that broached on me one day coming in with a following swell aprox 3mts at 19kn. Boat handled the sea’s  well until that one swell. I ended up on the port side on the floor lucky not to have gone over. After speaking to other owners they advised me they have had the same problem.

I guess what I’m saying we all take time to get to know our boats and limits and while still in this stage thing can go wrong.

Its a bit late to head home early.

The sea can be the most unforgiving place there is when it all goes to shit, everyone whos been boating a while gets an ego about how they can handle it yeah yeah whatever.

Its a very good point to always assess the conditions and realistically think about what your taking into the conditions and also, how many times has the weather report been wrong? more times than i care to count.

Ive been caught out before, everyone whos been boating a while has, you leave the ramp its a bit blowy but the report said it was going to clear up so you keep heading out further and further confident the winds would drop as per the report that morning, but no instead they pick up and your in 25 knot winds a long long way out with a cold, wet, spine breaking and very long ride back in....while thinking shit id hate for my engine to die right now.....

Goooooone Fishin!

There's always a lesson to be learned, regardless of how much experience one may have or think they have.

I got caught out up at the Montes using fuel stored in 44 gallon drums. We had a bit of rain up there and the partially empty drums must have somehow drawn in some condensation.

Consequence being a water separating fuel filter filled with about 99% water and rusty sludge just as we were departing on the 85nm return trip. Thankfully there were a couple of guys out there with some know how who helped me clear the filter (had to do it 4 times). Took about half an hour to get the motor running, thankfully my dual batteries were in A1 nick or we would have eventually had flat batteries to boot.

I've since completely removed and cleaned my 200L underfloor tank and fitted a different type of filter with the glass bowl on the bottom that can be inspected and easily drained.

Lesson learnt!

John

I head a little FURTHER NORTH each year,
Leave the cities behind, out of sight of mind,
.......

and on reflection it was risky no matter how well you know your boat - same day could have turned out a lot different as it pitched across some of the breakers at 45 degrees plus. Call me chicken but not for me.

Not saying that was a smart move doing that, personally i wouldnt anchor my dinghy 20m from the rocks, let alone a bigger boat.