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Things change very quickly on the water, which is why Coastguard Hibiscus is here to help. It’s the perfect time of year to makes sure your membership is up to date, and if not don’t forget to nominate Coastguard Hibiscus as your local unit, this helps us help you.
A few rescues recently luckily nothing serious but if variables were slightly different they could have been. On the evening of Wednesday, October 24 we were heading out for some night training when we received a call to help a 14 metre launch with a cooling system problem near Shakespear Regional Park. They needed a tow back to their berth in Gulf Harbour. Conditions were good but with a slight westerly wind and a large vessel to manoeuvre, we had to be careful.
We quickly hooked up and just outside the marina transitioned into a barge, ensuring we had a towel over her gunwale so that we didn’t scuff her beautiful new paint. It was dark by this time and navigating through the channel with a larger vessel blocking the helmsman’s view made things tricky, but Keith made it look easy and soon had us gently nosing up against a pylon beside the target berth. Due to the wind and the size of the vessel we had to work quickly to free the barge lines before guiding her in.
The following Sunday our crew had two jobs which, by coincidence, were very similar to each other. The first one was a 4.5 metre Benito out by Tiritiri Matangi Island with a flat battery and close to some rather sharp rocks. With the wind getting stronger there was a risk that they may blow towards the rocks making rescue tricky. Luckily our crew only needed to give them a jump-start so they could head home.
Next up was a similar boat, also a 4.5 metre Benito and reported to be out towards Kawau Island with propeller issues and proceeding at a very slow 2 knots. Upon arrival the crew had trouble locating them as they had motored to the end of the peninsula and ran out of fuel. Our team hooked them up and towed them to the Gulf Harbour ramp safe and sound.
If you are a regular purchaser of our yearly Big Coastguard raffle then you will be pleased to hear tickets will be on sale shortly. We will be at the Stanmore Bay boat ramp over the weekend of November 24 with the 1st prize on display – $30 from every ticket bought from us comes back to our unit to help us help you.
Also on November 24, along with the Hibiscus Coast Boating Club, we will be celebrating 40 years of rescue service. Come along to the Hibiscus Coast Boating Club in Stanmore Bay to help us celebrate and bring the kids along.
