First off I want to say that I have the utmost respect for Marine Rescue & what they do. I pay an annual fee to MR Lake Macquarie & have my own MR call sign etc. I have used their services on a few different occasions and am most grateful. I do realise they are all volunteers & do a fantastic job .........for the most part!!

I was anchored for the night, since lunch time NYE, off Wangi in Lake Macquarie, ready to watch the fireworks at 9pm. However the strong southerly hit about 8.30 with a lot of boats leaving & the fireworks were cancelled due to the wind.

A couple of hours later, after I was sure we were secure, I was in bed & was then "jolted" by something - didn't know what had happened. I rushed topside to see a Marine Rescue boat very close heading down our starboard side to windward. (See very basic diagram)

As he got further downwind I spotted a tow rope from his stern which was coming from around my bow. After following the rope I found a 25 - 30' sailboat on the end of the tow rope which was being dragged up our port side with a man & young girl, who looked very frightened, trying to hold their boat off ours to minimise damage. There was too much angle, due to the wind, to pull around our bow. I'm not going to mention the fear on my wife's face as she watched the proceedings!!!

I am not very proud of this but I started yelling abuse (with expletives) at the MR vessel trying to get them to head upwind so as to unhook the towed boat. I turned my deck lights & spotlights on so they could see the situation better - at one stage the rope disappeared under my boat and I thought they were going around behind me. I continued yelling instructions at them to get upwind but I'm guessing it was incompetence at the helm because the skipper was just powering on to try and turn their boat but all he was doing was pulling everything tighter downwind. The southerly was still howling and I was worried that my anchor would surely start dragging with my weight, the 30fters weight & the MR boat powering downwind trying to turn.

After what seemed an eternity he reversed enough to get some steerage to half turn into the wind & proceeded then to try and drag us sideways to starboard until he eventually made it ahead of our boat. He then proceeded to head down wind, on our port side, letting the tow rope slacken right off which let the 30fter blow down our port side at a great rate of knots, again with the two crew trying to fend off!! Last seen heading off downwind as there was nowhere to go upwind in the first place.

The skipper of the 30fter said to me, while there was a break in my yelling, that he couldn't understand why the MR boat went so close to us, he could see us clearly with my anchor lights on & he kept apologising to me. I keep my "blue lights" on so I can be seen at anchor!!

I can't be sure of how it all started, but by the jolt, I'm guessing the MR boat, doing a good deed giving a boat in trouble a tow, was out of control and hit us and it went all pear shaped from there. I can only put it down to the incompetence of the MR skipper. For the life of me I cannot work out why he was heading in that direction to start with as there was nowhere to go.

My question is - do you think I should report this to Marine Rescue or just leave it and be thankful they are there to assist boaters in need?
I thought MR may have given me a courtesy visit or call the next morning but they may have still been busy.

Luckily the only damage to my boat, that I've found so far, will "buff out" - good thing it's a steely eh Cisco!! Also the first time I've had to motor forward to release the anchor.

Hi Lazzz, always good to be able to Buff out

"Penalties apply for not reporting an accident NSW Maritime."
www.rms.nsw.gov.au/maritime/safety-rules/incidents-emergencies/incident-reporting.html

I'm of the belief you should report it to cover your self with your side of the story officially, as you now have made it public (to the 2 or 3 people on this forum)
Also it would be of interest if the MR have a record of the nights actions in a log book.

At least the skipper/crew of the MR boat should be spoken to/debriefed and asked to explain his/hers actions, which would have been with good intent im sure.

Sounds like a poor decision from the MR Skipper to cut in in front of you and not allowing for the strong wind, who knows what was going on onboard, might have been distracted by other crew, could be dozens of things....
I'd go in to their base and report it, I'm sure you'd get an apology if you happen to talk to a senior member, which in this case would be enough. The boat crews could use the incident as a learning case to help the volunteer boat crew members,
cheers

Being towed back to shore a couple of times by MR I am very thankful that they are there, and am looking into joining myself, great organisation but not a perfect one.

That said the level of competence does vary greatly between volunteers, so a situation at night, with a strong blow, in an anchorage, with lots of drunkards zooming around, it's not the time to put amateurs at the helm. It puts a lot of people at risk and can make a bad situation a lot worse (amateur MR's sunk my boat, an aluminium tri hull designed for marine rescue itself, while I wasn't on it, due to a comedy of errors on their part, story for another day, but they can definitely do more harm than good if not trained) and while I am sure they had great intentions, people also need to know their limits and speak up when they don't know. I think at the least you need to raise it with them, not for compensation of damages but duty of care to make sure the next incident doesn't end up in injury. If the other crew were physically fending off between yachts, they could of very easily slipped between the vessels and been crushed, So I would call this a near miss of serious injury, and high risk incidents should be reflected on, reviewed and learned from so they are not repeated.

You definitely should report it.
Firstly as others have said the CG need to review what happened, learn from it and try and ensure they don't do it again and secondly the 30 footer might have been more damaged than your boat and may need to claim on insurance and will need to know all they can about the incident.

the MR skipper should report to Maritime

Whatever you do hang on to that anchor

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dialdan said..
Whatever you do hang on to that anchor

Gold

do you think your red cockpit light may have caused the other vessels driver any confusion ?

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Lazzz said..

Luckily the only damage to my boat, that I've found so far, will "buff out" - good thing it's a steely eh Cisco!! Also the first time I've had to motor forward to release the anchor.

If it is only a buff out job you must have a very good paint system applied to the yacht.

I am sure a similar sized yacht built in aluminium, timber or fibreglass would have fared just as well in the incident you described above.

Cheers and have a happy new year.

Lazz the way I see it you have to give the heads at VMR notice of the incident. If only for training purpose. Towing is very challenging and night time more so, your red cockpit light may have caused some confusion, BUT from my training I believe that the tow has control of the operation. VHF -VMR to tow ??? If I was the tow I'd be axeing the line if I was being towed to danger !
Ignore ciscos bait them old RAN blokes have OHS issues

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SandS said..
do you think your red cockpit light may have caused the other vessels driver any confusion ?

That is an old pic just after I installed the LEDs - the red cockpit leds were not on at all.
These red cockpit lights are on a dimmer for night work & are usually turned right down.

Thanks for all the great replies, I am about to send off a nice email to Marine Rescue.

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woko said..
Ignore ciscos bait them old RAN blokes have OHS issues

Not bait at all. Clearly a response to Lazzz's bait.

I received this response to my email sent this morning:-

Dear Larry,
Thank you for your email and continued support of Marine Rescue. The safety of lives on the water is our highest priority, and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention.
We have convened an Incident Review Board to better understand the conditions, circumstances, and actions of the skipper and crew and we will advise you of the outcome once we have undertaken that review.
Regards Mal

--
Mal Wardrop
Unit Commander
Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie

Got a reply from Marine Rescue - at least they seem to be doing something which is a good thing.

Good Morning Larry,

Thanks you for your email regarding the incident on NYE. As promised I am advising you of the outcome of the After Action Review conducted on Monday 6th Jan 2020.

1. The duty MR RV Skipper involved has been stood down from night duty.
2. Adverse weather protocols have been reviewed and upgraded.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Kind regards Mal
--Mal Wardrop
Unit Commander
Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie

Good that your efforts in advising them has had an outcome which will improve MR service.

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Lazzz said..
Got a reply from Marine Rescue - at least they seem to be doing something which is a good thing.

Good Morning Larry,

Thanks you for your email regarding the incident on NYE. As promised I am advising you of the outcome of the After Action Review conducted on Monday 6th Jan 2020.

1. The duty MR RV Skipper involved has been stood down from night duty.
2. Adverse weather protocols have been reviewed and upgraded.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Kind regards Mal
--Mal Wardrop
Unit Commander
Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie

Hi Lazzz

It would be interesting to hear the skippers take on what happened and the events that led up to it

Regards Don

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Donk107 said..

It would be interesting to hear the skippers take on what happened and the events that led up to it

It sure would Don but I can't see them divulging that to me!!