Weekend of rescues and training
Marine Rescue Central Coast volunteers were busy with a number of rescues in the Peninsula area on the weekend of April 27 and 28.
A lone man on his four metre runabout radioed for help around 8:30am on Saturday morning.
His boat had run out of fuel in Paddys Channel and he requested help to get back to Gosford Ramp.
Skipper Al Morris and Karl Liepa were deployed in the rescue vessel Central Coast 20 to undertake the assist.
Around 2pm, the rescue boat with crew Al Morris, Karl Liepa and Paul Hanlon was despatched to Iron Ladder Beach to assist two men on a 5.2 metre half-Cabin runabout without fuel.
The men requested a tow to Ettalong where they hoped to buy some petrol for their engine.
On Sunday, commencing at 10am, the Central Coast Unit joined with three other Marine Rescue Units from Broken Bay, Cottage Point and Hawkesbury for a joint training Search and Rescue Exercise.
The group met at Patonga and the exercise and on-water search training was held between Patonga and Juno Point.
Following the exercise as Central Coast 20 and its crew, Al Howes, Al Morris, Karl Liepa and Mark Sheehan, were returning to the Point Clare base it was diverted to Lobster Beach to assist a 4.3 metre open runabout with three people on board.
The boat's motor would not restart and the people asked for a tow to the ramp at Lion's Park Woy Woy.
Media Release, 28 Apr 2013
Ron Cole, Marine Rescue Central Coast