Gold Coast Seaway.
On nine 6pm news 4 minutes in on 13th video of yacht entering the Gold Coast Seaway yesterday . I dont know how to copy video but here are sone shots with last shot safe inside.
They look to be cleaning something up in the cockpit (floor) in the last photo.
I wonder what it is?
gar
Bit wild and woolly down there BB?
Posted 12th May, VMR Southport.
VMR Southport and the Gold Coast Water Police were last night involved in a massive operation to assist a distressed vessel and crew.
At approximately 1640 yesterday VMR Southport were advised of a 44 metre, 120 foot, 377 tonne, Sailing vessel wanting assistance to enter the Gold Coast Seaway. The vessel was 28 nautical miles north of Southport and would arrive around midnight
The vessel also reported to have crew members aboard who were suffering seasickness.
Given the sea conditions offshore, meeting the vessel at sea was not an option.
Water Police were notified, and VMR Crews were placed on standby.
Around 2100 the vessel reported it was taking on a substantial amount of water, and urgently needed pumps. At around 2230 the vessel reported its location as 2.5 nautical miles north of the Seaway, and there was now a major engine room fire. Soon after, the vessel indicated it had lost all engine power and was going to anchor on Deadman's Bank north east of the Seaway. In doing this the vessel lost its main anchor. A short time later the vessel reported the engine was now running again, the fire was controlled, but the water intake was so bad, there was grave and imminent danger to the vessel, however they believed they could enter the Seaway. Soon after, this was attempted successfully, with a massive amount of sparks emanating from an exhaust stack on the vessel, however the Skipper reported this to be ok.
The vessel proceeded south into the Main Channel of the Broadwater, and with difficulty because of wind and tide, tried to anchor adjacent to VMR. The secondary anchor failed to hold, so a second attempt was needed further upstream, which was successful. VMR had already supplied two water pumps to the ship, and these were working flat out.
The ship advised they believed they were now in control of the situation, and thanked VMR for their assistance. Water Police were still providing assistance to the ship.
VMR departed the scene at 2345
Soon after VMR were again contacted by Water Police advising there was now a medical situation on the vessel and requested they return to assist. A Crew member had severely lacerated his foot.
VMR returned to the scene, and took the Crew member off the ship, provided medical assistance, and then organised for the patient to be taken to hospital.
This was a fantastic effort by all involved. The ship now appears safe, with a lot of repair work needing to be done before it can again set sail on its journey south.
Thank you to the ships crew for their co-operation, to the Gold Coast Water Police for their excellent co-ordination of this incident, and to the VMR Crew of Martin H, Glenn N. Peter W, Dave M, Radio Operators Graeme K, and Kelly J. and Co-ordinator Merv.
Wild is an apt word Shaggy. I went to check how much water boat had taken on in the last week before roads cut off from flooding this morning. No water in boat so got soaked walking from car to boat for nothing. Very confused seas , very windy.
B-Bender, your yacht looks like it has done a classic broach. Should have been streaming a light drogue. If you drive a big-ass comfortina you really need to know how to avoid the big end overtaking the pointy end. Glad they made it in safely though.
Yes, I know I sound a bit harsh, but I call that seamanship.
Select to expand quoteMuttonBird said..
B-Bender, your yacht looks like it has done a classic broach. Should have been streaming a light drogue. If you drive a big-ass comfortina you really need to know how to avoid the big end overtaking the pointy end. Glad they made it in safely though.
Yes, I know I sound a bit harsh, but I call that seamanship.
Have yoiu ever actually tried to do that??
One reef in the main, poled out Genoa, full noise on the Yanmar and just send it through there on the back of a wave.
Select to expand quotelydia said..MuttonBird said..
B-Bender, your yacht looks like it has done a classic broach. Should have been streaming a light drogue. If you drive a big-ass comfortina you really need to know how to avoid the big end overtaking the pointy end. Glad they made it in safely though.
Yes, I know I sound a bit harsh, but I call that seamanship.
Have yoiu ever actually tried to do that??
Sounds like a perfect way to foul the prop if you do broach.
I have thought about surf/bar entries for ages, in my uneducated opinion the size of drogue to pull your stern against a a broach would probably slow you to the point of getting constantly pooped. Thats just a guess, what I do know (I was anchored 500m from wavebreak island on Saterday) is that if the skipper of that boat dangled his balls off the stern the boat would have stood on her tail all the way through. Scarey stuff out there all weekend!
When I used to do a lot of sea kayaking we played a lot in the surf. I think this yacht had something happen to it that helped cause a broach. On the kayak I used to find that just as I really needed to use the rudder it would be out in the air, being useless. The rudder on my sea kayak is at the stern. When you are on the wave, the bow starts to bury and you use rudder to straighten and the darn thing just flaps around out of the water. This mono would have had something similar happen, the rudder becoming aerated just at the time it was most necessary as the rudder on most modern fat bottomed girls is pretty much under the transom.
In surf skis and the like that are designed for breaking waves, the rudders are positioned a fair way forward of the transom. This allows the rudder to be immersed even in conditions when the transom gets very high on a wave. I would suggest those sailors with transom hung rudders amd those just under the stern should be a little more careful, and consider drogues, more closely than those who have similar sized rudders underhung a fair distance under the hull.
As for drogues and their pull, there was a fair bit of work done on drogues back int he 80s. I used to have a Seabrake. The first models had doors on them that would open when a certain speed was reached, so that they did not produce a constant drag over a speed range but instead reduced drag at low speeds. The second generation removed this feature as it was found that the drag was not constant anyway with the doors broken open. The drag increased markedly at high speeds. So a drogue could be used which slows you only slightly between the waves and helps markedly at higher speeds.
But drogues are out of fashion. I have never used my Para anchor drogue, (thankfully) but the designer of my cat swore by it after he made a trip to Antarctica in his cat in the late 90s.
Select to expand quoteMuttonBird said..
B-Bender, your yacht looks like it has done a classic broach. Should have been streaming a light drogue. If you drive a big-ass comfortina you really need to know how to avoid the big end overtaking the pointy end. Glad they made it in safely though.
Yes, I know I sound a bit harsh, but I call that seamanship.
What happens when the yacht is slowed to the point that steering is lost and tide potentially pulls it off course?
surely that close to a sea wall you would not want to trail a drouge?
I would be very interested to see if this has been attempted successfully before?
In my uneducated opinion I would be going headsail only and using motor as others have suggested.better to broach slightly then loose steerage In the seaway
Does anyone have any feedback on this?
Personally, I'd only ever deploy a drogue offshore. The idea of restricted maneuvering , lee shores, surf breaks, lines in the water v prop and a bloody great handbrake on the end of it all sounds like the potential for a train wreck. I had a Jordan series drogue which needed depth, so it never even crossed my mind to think of using one in shallow waters.
Well speaking of crossing a bar, I stumbled on this vid recently. Some obvious wind/sea versus current lessons learnt here by a few skippers. However looking at some of the flags being flown, and knowing it is Florida, it doesn't surprise me!! 
Select to expand quotePoodle said..
Well speaking of crossing a bar, I stumbled on this vid recently. Some obvious wind/sea versus current lessons learnt here by a few skippers. However looking at some of the flags being flown, and knowing it is Florida, it doesn't surprise me!!
What a laugh loved it. Hey Serb if your watching four 350hp outboards on the transom is the go mate.
Select to expand quotePoodle said..
Well speaking of crossing a bar, I stumbled on this vid recently. Some obvious wind/sea versus current lessons learnt here by a few skippers. However looking at some of the flags being flown, and knowing it is Florida, it doesn't surprise me!!
As my darling daughter would say...O.M.G.
Not sure deploying a drogue would be wise at a river mouth / bar especially with an outflow if water occurring at a rate of knots, constantly pooped and reduced steering. I'd just be keeping her as square as possible or better yet head north or south to closest safety or to sea. As for riding the back of a swell... I'd be impressed if any sail boat could do that for more than a few seconds.
When I came thru the Gold Coast seaway a couple of weeks ago the advice was to stick to the northern side, basically lining up very near to the north mole, due to movement of the sandbank, as described in the Notice to Mariners below. Hard to tell from the video, but it looks like he was coming thru the middle(?) which would of placed in the shoal water.
However a more imoortant question is why was he out there in the first place? We waited 4 days to get a decent run from Coffs Harbour to the Gold Coast Seaway.
Ilenart
www.publications.qld.gov.au/ckan-publications-attachments-prod/resources/51ec24a7-2e03-462e-bf84-0a99a64c5ba0/2022-159t.pdf?ETag=af9d4bbbb901693e2f4a9eeed9eb1a24
Yes I agree a drogue of any sort in that situation could be a liability, we use one in emergency steering drill, it's surprising how much they can effect vessel direction. When crossing a bar I always have some sail appropriate for the winds, imagine if the boat in the op had its motor quit ....... that weather had been talked up for a week or more, poor planning
Select to expand quoteIlenart said..
When I came thru the Gold Coast seaway a couple of weeks ago the advice was to stick to the northern side, basically lining up very near to the north mole, due to movement of the sandbank, as described in the Notice to Mariners below. Hard to tell from the video, but it looks like he was coming thru the middle(?) which would of placed in the shoal water.
However a more imoortant question is why was he out there in the first place? We waited 4 days to get a decent run from Coffs Harbour to the Gold Coast Seaway.
Ilenart
www.publications.qld.gov.au/ckan-publications-attachments-prod/resources/51ec24a7-2e03-462e-bf84-0a99a64c5ba0/2022-159t.pdf?ETag=af9d4bbbb901693e2f4a9eeed9eb1a24
Thanks for posting the notice to mariners, I'm sure other cruisers will benefit
