At 11.30 last night the pilot vessel Corsair ran aground on Lonsdale Reef. The crew were rescued from rocks on the reef at 1.30 am, which was slack water at that time. Work is underway to Re float the pilot vessel www.thedcn.com.au/news/ports/pilot-vessel-grounds-at-port-phillip-heads/

They just failed the practical test.
I hope there are other employment opportunities in the future (in a different career).

Broke the Pilot Boat into 3 pieces??
Must have "suddenly stopped" pretty hard.

In gnarly conditions they take the 4 fingers west or the fisherman's lead, both take them close to Lonsdale reef where the over falls are not as great a threat.



And this was the result last night. I'm wondering if there was an as yet undisclosed contributing factor like steering / mechanical failure involved.


What's left on the reef...

The retrieved cabin

Looking at the AIS track she was heading out at between 11 and 16 knots as she passed the reef into Bass Strait slowed and turned to starboard a few hundred meters out and headed in to pass the reef but was at 21 knots when she hit the outer edge of the reef and drifted at 1.5 knots a bit further in.

In the above pic, Corsair is a bit over 10 meters off the reef doing 21. 7 knots!



S

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Guitz said..
Looking at the AIS track she was heading out at between 11 and 16 knots as she passed the reef into Bass Strait slowed and turned to starboard a few hundred meters out and headed in to pass the reef but was at 21 knots when she hit the outer edge of the reef and drifted at 1.5 knots a bit further in.

In the above pic, Corsair is a bit over 10 meters off the reef doing 21. 7 knots!



S

Yeah not real impressive.

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julesmoto said..

Guitz said..
Looking at the AIS track she was heading out at between 11 and 16 knots as she passed the reef into Bass Strait slowed and turned to starboard a few hundred meters out and headed in to pass the reef but was at 21 knots when she hit the outer edge of the reef and drifted at 1.5 knots a bit further in.

In the above pic, Corsair is a bit over 10 meters off the reef doing 21. 7 knots!



S

Yeah not real impressive.

Bit of confusion/contradiction here - the ABC report says it was headed back in after collecting a pilot from an outgoing ship (ie a few miles out).

In any case, it is hard to understand the course and speed at the time of impact. I'm not prejudging at all, just a bit puzzled. I've only ever seen those boats head straight in, mostly on the fishermens or four fingers leads as Guitz said, or sometimes up the main channels if it's calm. I've never seen them approach the reef from the SW like that. All that aside thank goodness they're ok.

Cheers, Graeme

They are twin engine and I think the engines are a main aspect of steering. There is also a small rudder I think. I heard yesterday that one engine failed though as yet not from a reliable source. On a single engine they would have problems helming but as at ais track shows they did a tight turn to starboard so why not go to starboard on the way in to avoid the reef? Was there instrument failure but there are the leading lights ?

The Hart ORC pilot boats run twin ~800HP motors, shaft drive props in front of twin rudders.

Then even with one engine failure, it's a puzzle.