A 40 foot cruiser taking on large amounts of water as it made its way north along the NSW Mid North Coast has made it to safety at Coffs Harbour.
A crew from Marine Rescue Coffs Harbour was quickly deployed when the cruiser’s skipper called for help this afternoon, reporting he was taking on water off Nambucca.
He was holding the water ingress with a shower pump and managing to make slow progress north at 6 knots.
The crew of rescue vessel Coffs 30 rendezvoused with the boat offshore, shadowing the cruiser in the darkness as it limped towards Coffs and preparing to rescue the skipper and transfer him to rescue vessel Coffs 30 if conditions on board his boat deteriorated dangerously.
The boat was sitting heavily in the water and taking waves over the bow. The skipper reported knee-deep water in the bow.
The crew of Coffs 30 was skipper Mitch Harvey – the Unit Commander of Marine Rescue Woolgoolga – along with Paul McLeod, David Oliver and Ken McNeil, with communications support in the MR Coffs Harbour radio base from Jan Steel, Brian Holmes and Graeme King.
Marine Rescue NSW Mid North Coast Regional Operations Manager Randall Gawne said the boat had only just made it into the harbour.
“It was touch and go; they only just managed to get the distressed vessel in,” he said.
Mr Gawne congratulated the MR Coffs Harbour and Woolgoolga members for their rapid response to assist a boater caught in a perilous situation offshore.
“This incident could have had a very different outcome,” he said.
“I’m sure this boater is very grateful to our professionally trained and equipped volunteers, both on board Coffs 30 and in the radio base, who made it their mission tonight to ensure he returned safely to shore.”
He said the Coffs Harbour Water Police had arranged a portable pump to drain the cruiser’s bilge.
Photos & video: Mitch Harvey.
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