A funny thing happened on the way to .......

[Ozzie]

Something interesting happened over the new year break. I was driving past the Lake on a very windy day and came across a yacht ( keeler)that had broken its moorings and was bumping on the shore . I contacted Marine Rescue who as I suspected already had a report. They told me they were short of crews over the break but RMS were on the way . Just as he said that they arrived at the location. I informed him of this , we thanked each other and I hung up and decided to watch the retrieval . 

They took a photo and motored away.

I then went about my journey which was visiting a mate who is also member of a local sailing club and more familiar with such operational matters on LM. I mentioned it to him and he was not at all surprised. 

"they will ring the owner and tell him his boat is loose"

I write this without my opinion . But I'm afraid I have a few strong ones.

Aftermath . I returned half an hour later and the boat was still being driven up and down on the keel into the beach . The water was not rough enough to stop anyone getting a line into the vessel but it was certainly rough enough to wreck the  boat if the situation was prolonged. Amazing.

[Steve]

My opinion is I don't think they should touch the vessel unless it is posing a navigational hazard or crashing into other boats. It is up to the owner to make sure the vessel is secure and that the mooring is sound, if he or she the owner, cant do that, well the beach is probably the best place for it. Are marine rescue there to rescue/salvage boats or lives?,,,, If they didn't, maybe they should have checked to see if anyone was on board in distress

Steve

[Ozzie]

It was government RMS that left the boat . The impression I had from Marine rescue was that if they had the staff available they would have towed it off and secured it.

[Mark]

I am a MR volunteer. We exist to save peoples lives and ensure that there are no navigation hazards which could endanger lives. We are not a salvage operation, there are others who charge for that service. Simple.

[Ozzie]

Fair enough in regard to Marine rescue .

In regard to RMS, I was a public servant for 33 years and I found the level of service you gave to the public still very much depended on how much of your own personal standards you put into the job . You could do the absolute minimum required or go the extra yards and do the best you could for the person making an enquirey or submission , make it hard or easy.

If on the odd chance I come across an Roads & Marine Services boat broken down, I guess by their standards I should look the other way.

I would help them.

[Steve]

Sorry Ozzie,
I thought you where referring to your rescue group as I was not understanding the RMS abbreviation. We here in WA call the equivalent of the RMS the "Dept of Transport".
A couple of weeks ago in the Marina, early morning, I was drawn outside of my yacht by an outboard motor ruckas. It was the dept of transport boat trying to get off a floating dock in a pen. I watched for a few seconds, realized he was short handed, so I ran over to his jetty and gave his boat a bit of a gut busting shove and got him on his way. I would hope he would return a favor one day.
I now understand what you are saying, I have a bee in my bonnet about roadkill, fresh carcasses that are left in the middle of a Hwy lane or in a dangerous position on a bend so traffic is taking dangerous evasive maneuvers to avoid them. I have seen traffic cops drive right by.

Steve

[Ozzie]

No worries Steve. Forgot I was using acronyms people may not be familiar with.

Last night a mate at Port Stephens , north of my location, sent me this very relevant reference to "Afloat" magazine our free NSW boat mag . This letter writer puts it better than me.

http://magazine.afloat.com.au/?iid=81781#folio=6

Read the article called "Put 'em in a Mooring Museum" but the relevant bit was "they were refused a tow".

Im an old fool still living in the 70's. The world is a sadder place.

[Steve]

Hey Ozzie,
Whilst talking about funny things that happen, yesterday I was cleaning marine growth off the propeller of a yacht in the Albany marina and whilst standing on the boarding ladder I was bitten on the middle toe by Black Bream , Here in WA we need a cull on Black Bream bigger than .3 m. It must of thought my middle toe resembled a seal ,,,, I mean busted barnacle,,,, so it went for the kill. Savage beast it was!!

Steve

[vfborg]

I had something like that happen to me while fishing in Herveybay one day i herd a lot of shouting and screaming i turned around and saw a boat coming straight to us with a young boy holding on to the bow rail and the boat was taking on water fast so i pulled up the lines and headed straight to the boat and plucked the boy off the bow he was crying and the boat was half full of water so i got a rope and tied it to the boat to try and tow it to shore with its skipper still on board his boat he didn't want to leave his boat anyway while trying to tow his boat when we went to turn his boat capsized him in it so we got him out off the water but my boat could not pull his boat any more because of the weight of the water and my motor wasn't big enough so i called marine rescue and they told me that because i got the people off the boat that they wouldn't come and tow the boat but there was only about 12 inches of the boat bobbing up and down out of the water which i thought would be a danger to other boaties so we stayed with the boat and then a pro fisherman with a bigger outboard came over for a look and towed the boat in for the guy by the time we got to the ramp who was there waitting but the water police i couldn't believe it .

[Ozzie]

I ran into a neighbour last week who is in Marine Rescue and put the above story to him. His take on it was that providing there was no other more pressing matters at hand, his squad would have towed the yacht to the Roads and Maritime wharf or at least to a place where it could be retreived by the owner.

He said they would use it as a training exercise.

Also, he noted that the Roads and Maritime vessel that stopped and took a photo and then waltzed off were theoretically taking responsibility for the boat . So if it cracked up in the rough weather and caused a hazard or fuel spill they indirectly were responsible.

Nice to know they can use there own discretion......... in both cases.