Tuross MR has been waiting for a new onshore rescue boat for some time. Three members were invited to travel to Yamba (NSW) to inspect and perform sea trials on the newly finished Naiad with a 90 HP outboard. It appears to be an excellent boat fitted all the necessary rescue equipment.
Then..... Our off-shore rescue boat has stored on a trailer on private property near the Moruya boat ramp for some time in an attempt to shorten our response times to rescues and emergencies off-shore. It had been a time consuming task to get the off-shore boat (TU20) into the water and then to affect a rescue.
Plans had been in place to install a floating finger wharf attached to the existing wharf and transport the air berth to that site so that the off-shore boat is permanently berth above the water on the air berth to again shorten response times and ease of launch.
This came to fruition over the last weekend when the development application was finally approved and the finger wharf delivered and installed. Just just waiting for the air berth to be loaded and transported by road to its new location on the Moruya river.
Lastly, over the last weekend also, during a training exercise on the Moruya River TU20 (the offshore boat) was tasked to perform a rescue of a fisherman with a failed motor. The fisherman was reportedly alone in a runabout near the Moruya bar. He had been on the water since three am.
As usual, the fisherman was nowhere near the last reported position and after three and a half hours of searching he was located six nautical miles offshore and a considerable distance down the coast. TU20, by then, was getting low on fuel and the fishing boat was a bigger and heavier boat than anticipated so the decision was to seek assistance from the Narooma MR in their NA30 boat to town the distressed fishing vessel to Moruya River.
The fisherman was tired, seasick and suffering mild hypothermia by the time the rescue was finally effected.
So, as usual everything all happens at once !
