Dive Boat goes over on Tweed Bar!

[Heath]

Heard on the Radio that a Dive boat got turned onto its lid this morning on Tweed Bar. 12 people in the drink. Now, besides the fact that the Bar could be checked from Pt Danger before departure, here is the info simply available on the net, so a person could make their own decision.

Firstly, the forcast...

IDQ17500
BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY
Queensland Region
Brisbane Office

BOATING WEATHER FOR SOUTHEAST QUEENSLAND COASTAL WATERS
Issued at 10:20am on Saturday the 3rd of January 2004


PLEASE BE AWARE
Wind gusts can be a further 40 percent stronger than the averages
given here, and maximum waves may be up to twice the height.


[issued 0453 Saturday]
SYNOPTIC SITUATION at 3:00 am EST Saturday
A 1023 hPa high centred near New Zealand extends a firm ridge along the southern
Queensland coast. A 1000 hPa low over the central Coral Sea is moving slowly
west and weakening.

[issued 0453 Saturday]
FORECAST FOR MORETON BAY
Saturday until midnight: SE winds 15/20 knots. Seas to 1.3 metres offshore from
Deception Bay to Mud Island. Showers and isolated thunderstorms.
Sunday: SE/NE winds about 15 knots. Seas to 1.2 metres offshore from Deception
Bay to Mud Island. Showers and isolated thunderstorms.
Monday: NE winds 10/15 knots.
Tuesday: N/NE winds increasing to 15/20 knots.

[issued 0453 Saturday]
DOUBLE ISLAND POINT TO COOLANGATTAStrong wind warning current north of Cape
Moreton.
Saturday until midnight: SE winds 20/25 knots reaching 30 knots north of Cape
Moreton, easing to 15/20 knots during the afternoon and evening. Seas dropping
to 1.8 metres. A 2.5 to 3 metre E/NE swell slowly abating. Showers and isolated
thunderstorms.
Sunday: SE/NE winds about 15 knots. Seas to 1.5 metres. A 2 metre E/NE swell
slowly abating. Showers and isolated thunderstorms.
Monday: NE winds 10/15 knots.
Tuesday: N/NE winds increasing to 15/20 knots.

WEATHER REPORTS
Time Wind Weather Seas Swell
EST Dir Knots Ht Ht/Length Dir
Double Is Pt 1000 SSE 22
Maroochydore 1000 SSE 16
Brisbane Ap 1000 SE 12
Cape Moreton 1000 SE 21
Spitfire Chnl 1000 SE 15
Inner Beacon 1000 SSE 16
Banana Bank 1000 SE 13
G C Seaway 1000 SSE 10
Coolangatta 1000 ESE 7
Point Lookout 0900 SE 10 2 <2 E

TIDES AT THE BRISBANE BAR
[courtesy Queensland Dept of Transport and National Tidal Facility]
High Tide: 1.7m on Sat at 06.35pm and 2.2m on Sun at 07.33am
Low Tide: 0.8m on Sat at 01.07pm and 0.4m on Sun at 12.54am

TIDES AT MOOLOOLABA
[courtesy Queensland Dept of Transport and National Tidal Facility]
High Tide: 1.2m on Sat at 05.15pm and 1.6m on Sun at 06.15am
Low Tide: 0.7m on Sat at 11.53am and 0.3m on Sat at 11.28pm

TIDES AT GOLD COAST SEAWAY
[courtesy Queensland Dept of Transport and National Tidal Facility]
High Tide: 0.9m on Sat at 05.30pm and 1.4m on Sun at 06.22am
Low Tide: 0.4m on Sat at 12.04pm and 0.2m on Sat at 11.25pm

TIME OF SUNRISE/SUNSET FOR BRISBANE
Saturday
Sun and Moon
Sunrise 0457 Moonset 0123
Sunset 1847 Moonrise 1506

A voice recording of these forecasts and weather reports is now
available on 1900 926 115 at a call charge of 77 cents per minute.

Secondly the tide, Tweed is notorious for its outgoing tides.

High Tide: 0.9m on Sat at 05.30pm and 1.4m on Sun at 06.22am
Low Tide: 0.4m on Sat at 12.04pm and 0.2m on Sat at 11.25pm

Add 1 hour for Tweed & another for daylight savings

Thirdly, this is what the bar looked like at the approx time of the incident.

[mackmauler]

doesnt look to bad Heath, those big rubber ducks, if thats what it was, can handle just about anything, been out in worse

[Heath]

Lastly, the buoy info available, should have been enough to make a normal person stop & think.

I'd be thinking the operator is in VERY serious trouble ATM, with the authorities.

[Heath]

doesnt look to bad Heath, those big rubber ducks, if thats what it was, can handle just about anything, been out in worse

You gotta be kidding right ???

Have a look at the pressure waves inside the bar!

Bags not being in your boat..........

[jeffo]

rob is a born nuts case heath! his ocean cylinder can handle a cyclone! i spose the one thing they had going for them was that it was a dive boat... at least they were all ready for a swim but yeah i agree what it was a stupid decision!

[mackmauler]

Not kidding, from the perspective of being behind the wheel of a 7m zodiac or similar id be very confident of crossing without a problem, wouldnt of put 12 pob though!

[Big_Kev]

I think that he will be thinking twice before trying that again.
Particularly when he thinks about the people on board (or one would hope he does).
Cheers Kev.

[mackmauler]

Kev, id have to disagree mate, it had to be a "she"

[Big_Kev]

Yep I just saw the coverage on the news headlines and that bar looked like sheet.
And I retract my comment of he as I am not gender bias in any way. I should have said the master of the boat.
But I like your crusty sense of humor Rob.

[Big_Kev]

And the rubber duck did not look to be 7mtr.
And with 12 persons on board must have been near capacity.
Surely this master did not overload the boat.

[Kerry]

No wonder insurance keeps going up and up and irresponsible actions like this certainly don't help.

Based on the forecast one might question if there might have been some clauses in the insurance contract broken, especially considering the strong wind warning criteria.

The dive industry lately has being doing quite well (for all the wrong reasons) in the international media stakes and I'm sure a dive boat full of international tourists will add to the sad and sorry mess. At least they didn't kill anybody this time but it's probably more by good luck than good management as if the management was working on this one then they shouldn't have even been out there [smiley=thumbsdown.gif].


Cheers, Kerry.

[Heath]

The Dive boat is definatly NOT 7 meters. It would be 6m at the most. I see this boat almost every trip out of Tweed & when loaded up with the divers & all their gear, the amount of free board would be 30cm MAX! Even in good conditions the craft looks out of its element, when fully loaded. If I get the chance, next time I see the craft, I'll take a pic of it fully loaded.
Only last trip in fact out of Tweed I made mention to my oldman about the boat fully loaded & they way it looked as we passed it on the way in, as it was heading out.

It would seem the lure of the mighty $$$$ was more than the thought of the concequences.

By Mackmauler:
Not kidding, from the perspective of being behind the wheel of a 7m zodiac or similar id be very confident of crossing without a problem, wouldnt of put 12 pob though!

I'll agree with that, I suppose with a big enough boat you can take on just about everything.
All those with 7m+ boats that run bars say, "I"...........

[charleville]

Heath wrote...

"Have a look at the pressure waves inside the bar!"

What do you mean by pressure waves, please?

[mackmauler]

Heath, the rescue boats included some that looked well under 4m ??? the skippers version was they had an engine failure as they were checking conditions, its up to the skipper to make the call, some of us make it better than others, isnt that right Heath? after you have seriously injured a crew member on your boat who are you to take the hollier than thou attitude? we can all sit back and hypothosise till the cows come home, no i dont think crossing was a good idea and havnt been fishn for 2 weeks like anyone else around here!

[Fitzy]

I assume/hope there were no fatalities or serious injuries? They were heading out on a dive trip weren't they? I recon they got what they payed for then, just a bit earlier than expected.

Fitzy..