Coastguard – Rescues in the rough

At this time of year the weather is a little more unpredictable and can turn nasty extremely quickly.

Last month the Saturday crew were called out at 9.30am to a 10.5m launch underway from Westhaven to Gulf Harbour. Unfortunately it had a mechanical failure and required a tow to complete its journey. 

The weather forecast was for 10-15 knot easterlies; however, this wasn’t the case with the actual conditions being 25-30 knots (45-55kph) and at that stage a 1.5m swell. In short, it was rough, which meant for a very long slow tow, approximately 5 knots (10kph). 

As we came back into Gulf Harbour marina, around lunchtime, we were tasked to a 5m Bonito with a flat battery, 1.5 nautical miles off Big Manly Beach. By this stage the swell had increased to 1.5-2m, but even so we were with the vessel in just under an hour. It was anchored but even so had drifted closer to Stanmore Bay/Red Beach due to the weather conditions. The occupants were very seasick, and unfortunately were unable to restart the engine using our jump packs so were towed back into Big Manly Beach. 

By 5pm we were back at Gulf Harbour refuelling Hibiscus Rescue One, ready to call it a day, when in came a Mayday relay – an EPIRB had been activated four nautical miles northeast of Challenger Island. As the closest available rescue vessel, we were tasked to investigate. 

While underway we learned that while the EPIRB was still active, all the contact information about the vessel and owners was incorrect. We started out looking for an 18m yacht, but by the end of the night we were looking for a 45-foot Rivera launch.  Working in collaboration with the NZ Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ), Coastguard Operations and Westpac Rescue, we spent over three hours in what by then was a 2–3m swell searching, before it was determined to be an accidental activation. We returned to base around 10pm. 

If you have an EPIRB on your vessel (and we recommend you do) please ensure the contact information is kept up to date with RCCNZ. A single phone call was all that was needed to confirm the accidental activation. Test them, replace the batteries when needed, or ever better upgrade to one of the newer GPS models which provide a much more accurate location fix when activated. This is the final Coastguard column for the season.

Winterise your boat: If you don’t use your boat much over winter then there are some things you can do to ensure safe boating when the season allows. These steps can save you a lot of aggravation and expense come summer. Use your boat. Probably the best way to ensure your boat remains ready for summer, is to use it regularly over winter! Keep an eye on the weather (the Coastguard app, available for your iPhone or Android smartphone, makes it easy) when headed out. Look after your engine. Engines don’t like inactivity, so paying attention to the engine before laying your boat up is important. In fact, if there’s just one thing you look at before you lay your boat up, it should be the motor. A few specific things to check: • Fuel Left for any length of time, fuel can spoil through degradation or contamination (eg. condensation in the tank). If you’ve got a full tank when you lay up your boat for winter, consider adding a fuel stabiliser – or, if you have less than half a tank, drain it completely. • Change the oils. Now is a good time to give some love to your engine, in the form of fresh engine oil and a new oil filter. Never hurts to also check the gearbox, or outdrive oil as well, if applicable. You’ll help remove contaminants that could cause issues after months of sitting around, plus you won’t have to worry about trying to sort out a service once summer rolls around. • Batteries Keep batteries somewhere warm and dry over the winter, on a trickle charger to keep them fully topped up (a cheap, low wattage solar cell can provide enough juice to keep your batteries topped up). Batteries left uncharged for long periods may need to be replaced completely.