Marine Rescue was active

Marine Rescue Central Coast was active over the weekend of October 15 and 16.

Skipper Al Howes and the duty boat crew were heading out towards Half-Tide Rocks aboard rescue vessel Central Coast 22 at 2pm on October 15 when they were flagged down.

The skipper of a 15.5m ketch with four people on board indicated that his vessel was struggling to make progress against the combination of a fierce ongoing tide and the gusty wind.

He asked for assistance to return to his mooring at Booker Bay.

Central Coast 22 undertook the tow and with assistance from a second rescue vessel, Central Coast 21, the large yacht was placed back on its mooring.

On October 16, the duty crew at Point Clare Base received a call from the skipper of an 8.5m Mustang Cruiser.

He said the boat, with two people on board was near Wagstaffe Point and had lost all electrical power.

Marine Rescue skipper Al Howes and the Sunday duty crew aboard Central Coast 21 were tasked to assist.

Using the rescue boat's portable battery supply, the vessel was able to start its engines and was then escorted most of the way to its berth in Woy Woy Bay.

The volunteers on duty at Marine Rescue Central Coast received a call around noon from a 4.8m half-cabin cruiser seeking assistance on October 23.

One of the people on-board the boat reported that they had run aground on the mudflats off Orangegrove.

Mr Hunter Leeder and his crew on rescue vessel Central Coast 21, Mr Ted Leeson, Mr Peter Ashworth and Mr Chris Hartcher, were tasked to assist.

They found the cruiser hard aground and with insufficient water depth to approach.

The crew provided advice on kedging methods that could be used once the tide had risen and indicated the rescue boat and crew would return if required.

The cruiser was contacted around 3:30pm and those on-board advised that they had been able to get back to navigable water.

As Central Coast 21 was returning to base around 1pm, the crew was tasked to retrieve an 8.0m yacht that had broken away from its mooring and was being swept towards the breakwater rocks adjacent to Iguana Joes.

The yacht was saved, taken in tow and placed on a temporary mooring near Gosford Sailing Club.

Media releases, 19 and 24 Oct 2016

Ron Cole, Central Coast Marine Rescue