Ever rescued anybody in trouble?

[Dodgy_Back]

I vowed never to tell any fellow fisho's about who I helped , So read this once only and don't tell any one.

Well fishing in the Seaway I see this little shape on Wave break waving his arms about with a motor that would'nt start.


So I towed this poor jetski , yes I said jetski back to the boat ramp.

This jetski driver then promised that he would never again tear around on his machine near anyone who's fishing.

I hope he keeps his promise and tells his mates to do the same .

Mick

[subzero]

Dodgy, I think you should be sin binned for 5 days for helping one of those kind
I am happy to see you appear to be suitably remorseful though
Try not to do it again

[fishin_till_late]

[quote author=fishin_till_late link=1137411741/15#19 date=1137474751]When we got towed the fella said it was better 2 tie the boats side by side weand as close together as possible. Whether its correct i dont know but theres an opinion for ya

This is called barging or rafting.
It is usualy used when having to manouver a vessel in a restricted or confined area such as in to a marina, berth, jetty, pontoon or amongst other anchored boats.
It is usualy used for short duration in sheltered areas as damage can be caused to both vessels by the rocking of the 2 vessels together. The vessels must be correctly lashed together with good fender and vessel placement. Steering will be far superior in one direction to the other but still not as good as you will expect, you will be working at slow revolutions so your steering will be not good anyway. If you have not practiced this, be very carefull as you can cause serious damage to both vessels and anything else that gets in your way. Wind and current will greatly affect your vessel as opposed to normal operation. You will be tying your boat up to an accident waiting to happen. I advise strong caution to anyone who attempts this without training or at least some practice[/quote]


We did this with 2 small tinnys in the terranora lakes on a dead flat day and maybe 1km to the boat ramp and we would have been goin 4 knots if that, but still after hearing this next time i will suggest the the winch point cheers

jono

[Brejen]

I have also had the pleasure to help some one in need and have also had to be helped myself.

1st time and most important was in the mouth of Currumbin creek bout 15yrs ago. A boat had rolled and my deckie and i help an older bloke to the bank and waited for the A.S.R to get there. From memory they where from Brisbane and their first time over the bar.

Went out to the 18's off Surfers on night in my old boat the old merc wouldn't fire up just keep turning over and over tried it all to get it started. Got onto the tower and asked for assistence, to be told that they would have to get off shore skippa in and would take awhile. We were drifting very quick and had no sand anchor to stop; it wind was pickin up and deckie was gettin sicker and sicker by the minute. A bloke and his son where out on the 24's NE and said they would come help. Towed us back to the ramp took near an hour. He was first up the ramp onto the trailer, when we turned to give him some petrol and cash he had left tooting his horn on the way out. BIG BIG thanks to that bloke. Turned out to be the ignition switch had stuffed up no way i was ever going to start it, But now know how to hot wire a donk thanks to my mechanic.
Same boat different trip and yes GAWBY had to tow me in. Thanks again GAWBY.

Help 4 blokes in a ski boat in the Coomera one day. Two where rowing could see plain as day they were in trouble went and helped. We had seen at least 6-7 boats go right past them not even giving them 2nd glance. Cowl off what do people think's happening . But anyway tow them back to the ramp refussed to take any money from them but as they are pushing us off a $50 note come hurlin over the screen, with a message of thanks now been gone.

Always willing to help some one out as i hope others are always willing to help me out if needed.

Brett

Shite it's a bloody novel.

[once_bitten]

Ive helped out on three occasions and been helped out one


Port Kembla harbour
towed a vessel back to the ramp after the motor stalled and would not start again dont know why it stalled but it wouldnt start again because they didnt put it back into neutral


Greenmans Valley (Hawksbury River)
while motoring on to a new fishing spot I noticed 1/2 a dozen people on shore waving thier arms about and yelling
when id slowed they started pointing to the other side of the river thats when i notice a kid of about 16 or 17 trying to swim back with his canoe in tow (full of water)
Im glad i was there to help as about 1minute after helping him back to camp a floatilla of 22 very large boats came through doing about 15 knots and im sure that not all off them would have been able to see him or even react in time if they did
ps alcahol was involved >



Lake Jindabyne (Snowy mountains)
towing a vessel back to the ramp which had run out of fuel and i ended up running out luckily we only had about 50 mtrs to go
when we got back to the ramp the other bloke grabed my 25 litre tank off me and filled it


cheers nino

[Freeeedom]

I was out off the Scarborough Reef this morning looking for a few sandcrabs. In between running the pots I was throwing a few SP's around the reefs. At about 9am a small sailing skiff went past being sailed by a girl about 16 years old. She sailed out past the coffee pot and then the breeze died away completely. By the time I decided to quit since I wasn't catching any legal crabs or fish she had been sitting becalmed for about an hour. I motored over and offered her a tow back to the harbour which she gratefully acccepted. Although the sea breeze would have arrived soon anyway I probably saved her an hour or two of waiting and a very concerned Dad back at the ramp an hour or two of worrying
Cheers Freeeedom

[Angla]

Reading all the stories, good and bad, there is an underlying message...... rescuing someone is enough reward in itself and self satisfying too.

Angla

[blaze]

been on both ends, when I was towed a deckie on the boat abused me for interfering with their fishing time (all up about 1/2 hour for hookup and tow 500m), the skipper was good and I happiely parted with the $20 requested. I towed a guy off a sandbank (drifted there after engine failure) and back to the ramp (simular place I was towed), was very thankful and he tried to pay me but didnt exept as I knew how he felt and it was thge least I could do
cheers
blaze

[dfox]

Back in 94 i went fishing about 70km's off of innisfail, the seas were dead flat, close to the best seas you could ever ask for. After arriving in the area i was going to fish i found an old long line bouy floating by so i grabed it to hang in the garden at home. I then started sounding around to locate some reds and in doing so spotted another float some distance off, seeing it was in the area i wanted to fish i headed towards it.
As i closed in on this other float i noticed movement on it and assumed it must be a gull resting on it. You can only imagine my suprise when i closed right in on it to find that it was a life ring with a young women and teenage boy clinging to it.
I ammidiately pulled along side and got them on board. They were extremely thirsty and had trouble drinking, were obviously suffering from exposure and the girl had the worst case of servere sunburn id ever seen.
After the shock of finding someone in such a state, we learnt that they had been in the water for several days and i could see that they obviously needed medical help so i radioed the local coastguard.
I had little imfomation on the pair and the coastguard took me for a hoax, but after a few expletives he soon realized the seriousness of the situation.
I asked the young women for some imformation on there vessel etc and in a round about way learnt that she had a boyfriend that was also out there somewhere!
Well this came as a suprise, this other bloke was out there somewhere, i let the coastguard know and gave them our gps location, and as they organised a rescue boat or chopper i had a quick look around.
I climbed up on the roof of the boat and scaned the horizon. I couldnt see anything but what may have been a shag a couple of km's away.
I headed to check it out, and as luck would have it tuned out to be the third member. As i approached him i could see he was drowning,He'd stripped off to his undies and was having trouble keeping his head out of the water. We tried to grab him, but he was hallucinating and in desperation to get away from us started to go under.
Fortunately we grabed him a hauled him aboard, where he pretty well collapsed and blacked out.
From there i made my way in and meet up with the coastguard boat and offloaded them.
By the time i got back to the ramp the news crews and reporters had arrived. I spent the next 4 hours doing interviews and helping with a police report. I turned down the oppertunity (and money) to go on the current affair shows.
Turns out they were the crew of a 60foot trawler that hooked up and sank, they spent 2 days and nights in the water, no-one new they were missing.
They all recovered well, sold there story to the highest bidder and to this day ive never recieved so much as a thanks.
That in short is my story...foxy

[morty103]

Foxy, bloody good read.
2 nights in that water is a bloody long time, amazing they survived

[AaronF]

Foxy wins - although you would think the crew would at least give him thanks or a cold carton. Guess you just don't know what the person you help out will do after being rescued but it should never stop any of us.

[Angla]

Didn't know I was shaking hands with a hero the other day. You just look like a regular guy and all........

If that had happened to me I would soooooooooo grateful to the rescuer and he would have a lifetime friend

Angla

[catchy_fishy]

Good on you foxy

Never been rescued myself, but hell did we need help once. Lucky I'm alive to tell the tale.

W'ed gone out far from our Launch Site (about 20 nm). when we left the seas were flat, but i mean flat. These are Mozambique waters, and there are days the seas are quiter than the lakes I go out on.

We'd just seen a monster Spaniard and I was desperately trying to get a fly in his path -He was at least 50kgs, if not 80kgs. Suddenly the Skipper says lines in now!!!!

"you've got to be joking", but he wasn't.

What was a flat sea was turned upside down in less than 6 minutes by a wind that came from nowhere.

We were in a rubber duck with a single 40hp engine, a flat battery on our handheld radio, no flares, not even a sea anchor, and 3/4 tank of juice to travel 20nm into the wind and rising swells.

The skipper had enough common sense not to head for the launch site, but to rather head for shore in the closest line possible (probably 16nm).

With 1km more or less to go, we ran out of petrol. Not a soul was in site on the beaches - not that it would have made a difference. I always carry a whistle in any fishing sceanrios for safety, and blowing it would have been useless.

Thankfully the wind had stopped and thesea went flat again.

There were three of us on the boat, and one oar. Skip took the position at the bow, and myself and my mate rowed with our hands. EVentually, after about 3 hours we beached at night, tired, cold and wet.

I can't imagine two days hanging on to a float.

We landed up 5km's from launch site up the beach, and eventually got home to a good whiskey

Lesson learned:

1. The skipper never had a license - he could drive a boat Ok, but he never understood the risks he was putting others under. I only found out about the license 2 days later
2. I was ignorant, and macho - none of us wore life jackets - the launch was that calm - worse still we never packed them on board
3. Always carry 25 -50% more fuel than you expect to use
4. Make sure your radio will not fail
5. Always have full emergency kit - you never know when you will need it
6. Beaching a non powered vessel through surf without a drogue/sea anchor is almost impossible (but it can be done if someone jumps overboard and holds the bow into the waves instead)

After that I'm not quite sure why I went and bought a boat - oh yes, it's beacuse I love big fish. But it will not go to sea until I can skipper it - still busy doing my ticket.

Here's hoping I never need to be rescued again.

Catchy Fishy

[bidkev]

A ripping story Foxy. A shame about the lack of acknowledgement though I often wonder about these kind of people who never acknowledge a "service" has been done to them. Probably the same kind of knobheads who cross the road and look the other way when someone is getting the crap kicked out of them.

Good on yer mate.

kev

It must have taken a lot of courage to discover that frog's legs are edible.

[Volvo]

Shyte Foxy, had it been me mate you'd be recieving somethin or other every Christmas for that..Would have gone to no end to find who the rescuer was n where they resided...
Wouldna believed people could be so ungratefull ey..