It was an interesting Saturday night for volunteers from Marine Rescue Central Coast who helped rescue a vessel in distress off Empire Bay.
The volunteers were scheduled to be on the water for a night of operations training on February 19 when radio operations received a phone call just before 8pm.
The skipper of a vessel advised their hire boat had run aground and was stuck on an oyster lease off the Illoura Reserve Dog Park.
David Stocks, Dave Jesavelik and Jane Shirriff from Rescue Vessel Central Coast 21 (CC21) arrived to find a local hire boat stuck on the oyster lease.
It was decided that it would be too dangerous to try and pull the vessel off as the tide was too low.
With the high tide not due for another four hours, the CC21 crew decided to return to base and pick up a U SAFE (a remote-control life saving device).
The crew also picked up sandwiches, water and space blankets to send over to the people on the distressed vessel.
CC21 reported that around 11:15pm, the tide had risen enough to safely get a line to the vessel and slowly pull them off the lease.
The vessel was towed back to the Marina at approximately 12:30am with no injuries reported.
Source:
Media release, Feb 20
Marine Rescue NSW – Central Coast Unit