Another very happy group of campers, (actually the Cruising Section boaties) enjoyed a stunning day at Pig Trough Bay at Garden Island on Sunday. With very light winds, it was an easy cruise over there with plenty of moorings to tie up to.
The glorious winter weather sunshine made it a perfect day for us to enjoy drinkies around the BBQ with lots of banter.
It was great to see many new faces who came over to enjoy the Cruising Section event.
A day out boating would not be complete without a bit of drama or as some of us came to view it, as impromptu entertainment! The climax of the day was noticing a 38-foot boat which had become stuck on a sandbar close to shore and with the tide going out, it was not looking good for the poor occupants who by the way were not any of our SoPYC members!
Stephen Mawhinney, ever the Good Samaritan, went to find out what the lay of the land or in this case the boat was. Yes, definitely stuck! Lucky Bay IV became the Pig Trough Bay Towing Service! With Jan Becker going between the two boats on his tender, taking the tow ropes and Stephen giving our skipper, Jeff Abbott, the hand signals of instruction, the rescue was on! Alas, even with Lucky Bay IV’s considerable twin-engine Volvo grunt, the boat would not budge. After a frustrating hour or so with no headway being made except more ropes being added for tow strength and then the final snapping of the tow rope and with the tide still receding, putting Lucky Bay IV in jeopardy, it was decided to ring Sea Rescue.
(For the boating enthusiasts, this stranded boat was a 38’ centre console which does 60 kph, weighs 6 tonnes and had 3 very big mercury outboards!)
Well the upshot was Cockburn Sea Rescue were not able to pull them off and with virtually no food, water, warm clothing or shelter, and the temperature expecting to drop to 3 degrees overnight, the two men decided to abandon ship but not before asking Jan Becker to help them with putting out the stern anchor and then asking him and Christine for a lift back to Fremantle. They hopped off Sea Fox and disappeared into the darkness.
Never a dull day in the boating fraternity!!!!
A big thank you goes to our SoPYC members Stephen Mawhinney, Jeff Abbott and Jan Becker for being such fantastic people and ambassadors for our club and doing what it takes to help strangers in need over several hours in a very precarious situation.
The Cruisy Scribe
(Footnote: the boat was able to be floated off the sand hump at 10am Monday morning when the tide had reached its highest.)
