SAVING LIVES ON WATER: Marine Rescue Point Danger

MARINE Rescue Point Danger monitors marine radios 24/7 with this monitoring being performed by professionally trained volunteers.

We have recently experienced five rollovers on the Tweed Bar and thankfully no lives were lost but could have easily been so. Our radio operators are also watching the Tweed Bar which in itself is a very dangerous bar and must be negotiated with caution. The quick response from these operators to deploy our rescue vessels to the incident certainly helped with a positive outcome in "Saving Lives on the Water”.

Over the past couple of articles I have spoken about the importance of logging on and logging off to our boaters using the Tweed Bar. Unfortunately these five rollovers did not log on with Marine Rescue Point Danger. How would this have helped in their situation? By contacting the communications room at Point Danger we could have given the boaters an update on the Tweed Bar. While it is the decision of the boater to cross the bar, at least we could have advised them of the conditions so they could think before crossing.

Marine Rescue Point Danger can give our boaters the condition of the bar, weather reports and the reading from the Wave Rider which reads wave heights and direction. This is all useful information to have before crossing the bar. Life jackets are very important and must be worn: make a point of checking for faults and ensure they are being worn correctly. The wearing of your life jacket will help save your life in an unexpected event whilst on the water.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Marine Rescue Point Danger coxswain and crews who were involved with the recent incidents experienced on the Tweed Bar.

The volunteers were performing training duties when the radio calls were received from communications of the rollovers and the response time was six minutes before the persons in the water were safely picked up and on board our quick response Rescue Vessel Point Danger 20. The handling from the coxswain with this vessel is to be commended as he was dealing with a dangerous situation and mindful of the safety of the crew on board and persons in the water which is done through a risk assessment of the situation. It would be remiss of me not to mention the quick reaction from the jet skis manned by members of the public who were on the water nearby for two of the roll-overs in picking up persons in the water.

Please log on and log off with the Marine Rescue NSW unit before crossing any bars and listen to reports regularly on conditions. Take care and stay safe on the water.

DON'T FORGET:

Marine Rescue NSW monitor VHF Channel 16. Please log on and log off using this channel. You will then be taken to the working channel. Marine Rescue will then place you on the log and will then go back to monitoring VHF Channel 16.