Navy races to save lone sailor

[gf0012-aust]

One for Alexsa!---------------------->

A NAVY warship is racing to save a lone British sailor whose yacht is in danger of breaking up on a reef north of Lord Howe Island, off the NSW mid-north coast.

The frigate HMAS Ballarat was sent early this morning from Jervis Bay, 570 nautical miles (1050km) away on the NSW south coast, in answer to a distress call at 5pm (AEST) yesterday from the stricken yacht, which is taking in water.

The yacht, which has one British man aboard, had run aground on Elizabeth Reef, 100 nautical miles (185km) from Lord Howe Island, said a spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which is coordinating the rescue attempt.

A catamaran had remained close to the yacht overnight and maintained regular radio contact, the spokeswoman said.

Two AMSA search and rescue aircraft were circling the area today and a merchant vessel had also been diverted as back-up for the approaching frigate.

The Ballarat was expected to be in position by 4pm for its long-range helicopter to attempt to winch the man to safety and take him back to Lord Howe Island.

Defence spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said time was of the essence.

"The yacht is taking on water and is in danger of breaking up in heavy seas and strong winds," he said.

Despite the rough conditions, the AMSA spokeswoman remained confident of success.

"We are certainly hoping the yacht doesn't break up before the defence assets get on scene," she said.

"(The sailor) has been in constant radio contact with the vessel that's nearby so we don't anticipate that's going to happen.

"But if it did, we have a good location on where he is and we will get people there as quickly as possible."

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22176727-953,00.html

 

[alexsa]

One for Alexsa!---------------------->

A NAVY warship is racing to save a lone British sailor whose yacht is in danger of breaking up on a reef north of Lord Howe Island, off the NSW mid-north coast.

The frigate HMAS Ballarat was sent early this morning from Jervis Bay, 570 nautical miles (1050km) away on the NSW south coast, in answer to a distress call at 5pm (AEST) yesterday from the stricken yacht, which is taking in water.

The yacht, which has one British man aboard, had run aground on Elizabeth Reef, 100 nautical miles (185km) from Lord Howe Island, said a spokeswoman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which is coordinating the rescue attempt.

A catamaran had remained close to the yacht overnight and maintained regular radio contact, the spokeswoman said.

Two AMSA search and rescue aircraft were circling the area today and a merchant vessel had also been diverted as back-up for the approaching frigate.

The Ballarat was expected to be in position by 4pm for its long-range helicopter to attempt to winch the man to safety and take him back to Lord Howe Island.

Defence spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said time was of the essence.

"The yacht is taking on water and is in danger of breaking up in heavy seas and strong winds," he said.

Despite the rough conditions, the AMSA spokeswoman remained confident of success.

"We are certainly hoping the yacht doesn't break up before the defence assets get on scene," she said.

"(The sailor) has been in constant radio contact with the vessel that's nearby so we don't anticipate that's going to happen.

"But if it did, we have a good location on where he is and we will get people there as quickly as possible."

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22176727-953,00.html

Another idiot putting lives at risk to rescue him. The fact is you cannot meet your obligations under the Colregs (or be rested enough to react in emergencies) for long distance voyages sailing solo. I know this guy was not racing but his actions are still irresponsible.

As far as racing is concnered I am afraid I do not share the public adulation of the solo yachts men and women who and consider them a hazard, particularly wiht their insistance on heading well south to reduce transit times. Bullimore should be banned from ever commanding a solo yacht again as should Isabelle Autissier. There was a standing joke that Autissier should have put the advertising on the bottom of her boat as it was orientated in that direction most of the time when it made the news.

 

[alexsa]

http://ibnnews.org/national/lone_yachtsman_rescued_by_navy_3807_454584521248778_000000.html

Well they recued him, well done the Seahawk crew....... in such cases there really should be some mechanims for recovering the cost from the individual or his insurance company. It may propt a more responsible approach.

 

[Tasman]

http://ibnnews.org/national/lone_yachtsman_rescued_by_navy_3807_454584521248778_000000.html

Well they recued him, well done the Seahawk crew....... in such cases there really should be some mechanims for recovering the cost from the individual or his insurance company. It may propt a more responsible approach.

I agree totally with what you are saying. I know that Australia has an obligation to rescue people no matter how self inflicted their predicament may be. However, recovering all, or at least a substantial part, of the cost would be a good move and maybe a deterrent to irresponsible actions. It will be interesting to find out what the latest rescue has cost the Australian taxpayer.

Anyway, it was another good effort by the RAN.

Cheers

 

[icelord]

i Have to ask, don't we have a volunteer coast Guard for this?
Or is their mandate restriced to coastel waters.(and this does not invite talk about Lathams "Coast guides")

And i noticed recently the RAAF rescue team and helo, anyone got info on these guys i can't seem to get any

 

[Tasman]

i Have to ask, don't we have a volunteer coast Guard for this?
Or is their mandate restriced to coastel waters.(and this does not invite talk about Lathams "Coast guides")

And i noticed recently the RAAF rescue team and helo, anyone got info on these guys i can't seem to get any

AFAIK the volunteer coastguard only looks after 'local' waters. I don't know about other states but the Tasmanian units are only equipped with small craft. Again talking about the Tasmanian situation the police have a number of patrol boats, one of which is a reasonable size for limited seagoing work (but certainly not the kind of operation being discussed in this thread), plus a well equipped twin engined rescue helo.

Cheers

 

[icelord]

The NSW police recieved 6 16m new long range boats from Austal early last year, they operate from Coffs Harbour,Newcastle and Sydney AFAIK, and i think tweed and somewhere south coast.

They have estimated range of 440nm so that rules them out from getting to the stricken vessel.

 

[alexsa]

As a follow up to this incident the article attached gives the yachtsmas reason for his predicament as he claims the reef was not accurately charted. This is not something a professional mariner is not aware of and is the reason that there are recommended tracks. Nonetheless, it reinforces the ongoing value of navaids to all (like radar) to check the ships position against a fixed object.

That said, we understand second-hand from the survivor that on this occasion he was using an electronic map on a small scale (poor practice to start with) and it indicated he was a comfortable distance from Elizabeth Reef. After he hit he zoomed in to get more detail & it correctly showed him aground in the right place! His second and final grounding for the trip.

This would appear to confirm that this individual was completely responsible for his own situation and i find it astounding that someone willing to spend so much on a yacht has not bothered to learn the basic fundamentals of navigation (either that or he was pretty lax).

Mind you I do consider that a large proproation of yachtsmen (and women) need better trainging. Failure to understand terms such as 'signficant wave height' is worrying and was one of the factors in the Sydney-Hobart race that when horribly wrong. As another example an Oberon class submarine was entering Sydney harbour and just shy of Bradley's Head when the submarine was in the channel (and both the colregs and local rules requrie the yachts and pleasure craft to keep out of the way) at this time a yacht (complete wiht skipped wearing white cap and stripped t shirt) rocketed across the bow of the submarine, bounced down the asaddle tanks and wrapped his sail around the fin (as the submarine was coming into harbour the bell had been fitted to the front fo the fin and this then neatly tore the sail) and during the whole event the skipper was sreaming "steam gives way to sail" indicating a vauge idea of one concept in the colregs but a complete lack of understanding the detail.​

http://www.sail-world.com/index_n.cfm?nid=36338&rid=1&DfPage=g