Another tragedy

[William_H]

It is always sad to relate tales of tragedy on the water but I think it is worth while when boating people can learn from such. In this case it involved an inflatable tender being rowed/paddled. The older couple were holidaying on an island 10Nm off Fremantle called Rottnest Island. The mooring area is in a bay with possibly 100 boats on swing moorings or anchor. Their 34ft sloop was about 60 metres from the shore. After a night party the couple were waved off the beach by friends to paddle to their boat.
Unfortunately the westerly wind (sea breeze) was strong at about 25 kts coming from the shore toward their boat and increasing in strength as they left the shelter of the shore.
The inflatable was found some days later about 50Nm up the coast and her body was found later about 20Nm up the coast. He hasn't been found.
It is presumed that when approaching their boat they missed grabbing the boat and were unable to paddle against the wind to return. Sometime in the next hours they must have been tipped out of the inflatable and drowned.
The message is don't take tenders for granted carry safety gear including anchor flares and lifejackets. (even if you risk having them pinched when you leave the tender on the beach.) Don't overestimate your ability to paddle against the wind. regards will

 

[BrianJ]

Will, how sad.. I have just taken the liberty to pass your message on to my daughter ... remember, she was the one interested in sailing to Rottnest
Brian

 

[PaulJ]

Hmmm.... How sad. I have very fond memories of "Rotto", it is a beautiful and idyllic place. It serves as a warning to us all that tragedy can strike when and where we least expect it......

Paul.

 

[boomerangben]

How very sad. It never ceases to amaze me how many people use their tenders without life jackets. IMHO it is one of the most dangerous aspects of boating, or at least is a time when you are most likely to go overboard.

 

[Stemar]

It isn't just inflatables that can be difficult to row against the wind.

The skipper & I ended up getting helicoptered off the mud flats in Portsmouth harbour when the outboard of the tender I was in failed in a bit of an easterly blow. It was impossible to make significant progress to windward in a little rigid(ish) tender with decent oars, and the falling tide dumped us on the mud.

Ironically, I'd suggested we use his tender as I though it would be handier in the wind than my inflatable. I carry a bag with a grapnel anchor and the wherewithal to replace the shear pin on my tender all the time it's in the water.

Fortunately, in our case, the worst problem was the fact that it all happened in full view of the clubhouse windows - most embarrassing!

Some other points worth mentioning:

We were dressed for the trip to put the boat on its mooring and come back. By the time we'd sat on the mud for a couple of hours, we were both getting decidedly cold. Sitting it out for another 5-6 hours waiting for the tide to come back up would have been at least seriously unpleasant, if not actually dangerous to our health.

We had one mobile phone with a tired battery between us. It did the job, but only just.

We tested the mud and thought it was too soft to risk hoofing it. Our rescuer (GAFIR) walked though the mud to us, but when I asked if we should have gone for it, we were told that we'd done the right thing. Us, chilly but dry in a tender on the mud is an incident. Us sinking into the mud is an emergency.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting this tragic story; we sat down and thought about how to avoid it happening to us. In our case, already having a Personal Locator Beacon (small GPS EPIRB), we have decided to carry that at all times on the tender plus a pack of Payne's small flares and, maybe, the starting pistol. It would be nice to carry the handheld VHF as well, though there is a limit to the amount of clobber you can carry about ashore or are prepared to leave in a beached or moored tender but we carry mobile phones anyway. When one of us goes ashore alone in the tender we will take the handheld as it is useful for comms to the boat in any case. Thanks again for the thought-provoking post.

 

[snowleopard]

it's a regular occurrence in the caribbean, mostly among local fishermen who have a single large outboard. when that fails there is nothing between them and the spanish main over 1000 miles downwind, no radios and no regular traffic to spot them. 2 or 3 are lost every year.

we ran out of fuel in the dinghy at st maarten so i started rowing (rubber dinghy, piddling little aluminium oars). i was working flat out and gaining about 6" per stroke. a passing boat gave us a tow and let us go withing 10 yards of the boat, inside the lagoon in flat water. it took us 15 minutes of hard work to get aboard. it really makes you think.

 

[tsmyth]

What a tragic story.

I might be naive, but what about carrying a small folding grapnel type anchor on a tender? Obviously if the water is too deep this would be of no use. However, if it did catch at least one would not be blown further away.

Ray