Reply With QuoteThe other 3 tried to swim to the island and were never seen again, i read conditions were poor
People were asking why the public was not notified earlier as a lot of fisho's would have banded together for the search
Its been a pretty sad few days up here with 3 fisho's still missing 3 days after sinking..
https://www.tropicnow.com.au/2022/ju...cbhoTqqm-HQ284
Lots of questions remain as the only survivor so far is a Tongan guy here on a work visa working on a banana farm..
The young skipper had apparently only recently bought the boat but was an experienced spearo/fisho and had worked on Trawlers, cray and live trout boats before...
What no-one really knows yet is why they didnt activate the Epirb or get into the life jackets...apparently they were on the way home after spending the night at the Reef and not far from the islands at the time when the motor broke down..
We were out there the day previous and conditions were pretty ordinary. I personally wouldnt have stayed for an overnighter given the uncomfortable conditions..not dangerous I thought but certainly unpleasant on and off..we also tried to snorkel around some reef to show the 2 frenchies I had on board some coral but the missus only lasted 5 minutes and they were done after 10 minutes complaining the 22c water was freezing...how the survivor lasted 30 hours floating in water that cold is pretty amazing..
It just shows how quick bad things can happen and the importance of having your safety protocols in place and rehearsed..make sure your Epirb details are updated and regularly test that its working and is in an easily accessible position...these guys were in the water for about 24 hours before even a search got underway and even with land in sight, trying to battle wind and tide and rough conditions would be pretty much impossible..this bloke only survived by clinging onto an esky or buoy which also assisted him in being spotted ......
The other 3 tried to swim to the island and were never seen again, i read conditions were poor
People were asking why the public was not notified earlier as a lot of fisho's would have banded together for the search
I feel for the friends and relatives but nobody knew they were out there. No one had been told they were going, not family, not friends, the only reason a search had been started was that the epirb had been set off. Unfortunately too many epirbs are set off accidentally and at what stage do you start a full on rescue, it's a difficult decision for all involved, some early prevention measures may have had a different outcome.Originally Posted by gazza2006au
You sure about that? The article linked in the OP states "Police launched the search yesterday morning after being notified by family members that the group had not returned Saturday afternoon as expected" and "The EPIRB was never activated unfortunately".
Yeah guys apparently no Epirb was activated,,
The search was not even launched till Sunday morning after they had been in the water for 24 hours and were alerted when they never came back by Saturday evening....
They didnt even really know where to look until the survivor was found late Sunday afternoon and gave them some details to help narrow down the search area....by then it was 30 hours after sinking and probably too late anyway..
It seems there was a motor issue and while they were trying to figure that out the drifting boat was swamped, capsized and sunk almost instantly mid -morning Saturday...
Seems the survivor was able to grab the anchor retrieval ball and he made the decision to hang on and float till he was eventually found 30 hours later..
The others apparently tried to swim for one of the Barnard islands and have not been seen since...
As for your question Gazza,why wasnt it publicized so that other boaties could help search or at least keep an eye out for them..well I asked a friend of the family during the first day of the search and this is what she told me....."I know they have been asked to leave the search and rescue to the police at this stage. They are still hoping that some of them may have made it to one of the islands."
So all I can guess is that possibly because of poor conditions the police didnt want other boats out there maybe getting themselves into difficulty also in the poor sea conditions on Sunday...
The ramp was all but empty today with it blowing up to about 20 knots before lunch ..it seems they are just waiting for the bodies to wash up somewhere now..
Very sad state of affairs..
Only saw a report by one of the searchers responding to a reporter. Should have known better having been in a similar siuation of misreporting.
Apolgies for the gaffe.
Which Barnard island did they swim for north or south??? there not the best islands to land on in rough weather on the weather face side.
Sam, details have been sketchy from the start...the only living witness is a Tongan fella with no local knowledge and was just along for the ride...
The fella was found floating 2km's NE of the North Barnards after 30 hours and 5 tide changes so who knows where they sank or which islands they were swimming for....From his limited info they could only surmise that the boat sunk somewhere between 35kms out and the Barnards (10km's out)...
These days AMSA responds to every epirb signal unless they can confirm via the contact details on file that it is an accidental activation. Their average time australia wide to get an asset on site is around 90 minutes daytime and 110 minutes night time. I was reading their report the other day for some other thing. It is indeed a shame these guys didn't activate one. The bavaria yacht that capsised in the Wide bay bar the other night had one activated and they managed to pluck a couple of 70 year olds out of the water at different places at night time and drop a raft to one of them - amazing.
nil carborundum illegitimi
Not to sound insensitive here.
But I struggle to figure our how the boat actually sunk?. Nearly all trailer boats have some sort of flotation these days.
Secondly, if you are headed out in a boat that can actually sink then over nighting in 25knots at the reef is unfortunate.
In addition, heading out over night in strong winds, with a boat that can sink, and no life jackets, and no epirb seems incredibly odd to me.
Maybe the exact details will come out later on which will make this tragedy make more sense.
A lot of assumptions there flex..
Here is a video of the boat at launch at the Clump point ramp...looks like an Epirb on the dash in the helm area, fire extinguisher visible on the passenger side..all looks tidy with nothing to suggest life jackets and other safety gear was not also in order.....
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=475583321069953
Conditions were 15-20 knots with uncomfortable 1.5m short interval swell with messy chop....nothing crazy and not out of the ordinary during tradewind season....for those working 9-5 jobs this time of year you may not get out for months if you are waiting for ideal conditions....when we are overnighting even on half decent days it often picks up to 15 knots or so during the night so like most we look for an overnight spot to anchor in the lee of a reef somewhere...
As for why no epirb activation or getting into jackets the survivor said there wasnt time...the skipper was an experienced spearo and would have been capable of diving under an upturned boat to retrieve the epirb and other safety gear. which gives creedence to the story that the boat sank quickly....As well no debris has been found ..
The details of the incident are only known to the survivor who has no local knowledge and possibly no real boating experience either...
All he said was that the motor stopped, they were trying to figure out why and then they were swamped by a wave and the boat turned upside down and sank...
To me it sounds like after the motor stopped they probably ended up drifting broadside to the waves...thats never a good idea in those conditions...either chuck out a drogue if you have one or chuck the anchor out the front so at least you are not in a vulnerable side-on position.....
As to why the boat actually sank...who knows..?..maybe it had been rebuilt without adequate underfloor flotation...we may never know the answer to that...but if it stayed on the surface the guys would have likely activated the Epirb and it would have been a relatively simple rescue as described a couple of posts above by GBC...
Just my assumption but what's the chances of fowl play i mean last year those 4 aboriginal cousins in a tinny were never found no bodies floated and thats 4 people
Alot of assumptions I'll agree. Be interesting when the actual details emerge
But does seem like lack of experience that no one anchored to stop boat from swamping, Or put a life jacket on or set epirb off. Given it was a swamping event. not as if a whale smashed their boat out of nowhere.
If the waves were big enough to swamp a 6m boat in one go, then likely an experienced skipper would have life jackets on to begin with. Or have knowledge the boat you own is foam filled or not? surely anyone going offshore in rough conditions knows if their boat can float if capsized?
If the waves werent that big, surely it would have taken more than a few to swamp and sink a boat and given people adequate time to safety up.
I think some people simply care more about safety than others. Hence these oddball tragedies occur from time to time.
In no way am I saying anyone deserves the consequence of what happened to these poor blokes. Im saying this from a purely speculative point of view.
Hopefully others can learn from this and not repeat the accident
Boats without flotation can go under very, very quickly. If you don't have flotation foam or a sealed underfloor area, taking a single wave over the stern can be all it takes.
There once was a vid on Youtube (since removed, unfortunately) of a small boat in the 16-18' range trying to haul up a stuck crab pot, as viewed from a camera up on the dash or bimini. They hauled on the line, dipping the starboard aft corner, and took a single wave over the stern. They realised they'd taken on water and released the line but it was too late - a couple of hundred litres of water inside meant the next wave breached over the stern as well, and it was off to Davey Jones's locker from there. As far as I recall it took around 10-15s between the first wave and the camera going under.
IMO the key safety messages are:
1. Wear an inflatable PFD. They're so unobtrusive that there's really no reason not to.
2. Mount the EPIRB at the stern where it's accessible if the boat sinks out from under you.
The swiss cheese effect - A number of small holes line up like they never have before and all of a sudden you have a big hole that nobody saw coming. Tragedy at sea is never usually a single major event, but a number of small events that turn quickly to disaster. Engine stops, boat turns, 3 big blokes looking at the outboard, pooped by the stern - gone. It can be that easy and that quick. I am by no means surmising what happened to these poor blokes and may they RIP.
nil carborundum illegitimi
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