Activities

When a boat operator who was fishing alone off Thirteenth Beach slipped and fell overboard he knew he was in big trouble. His boat was in gear and motoring away from him, leaving him unable to raise an alarm. Other boats in the area did not see him so he had to make the hour and a half swim to shore. He says he would never have got there if he had not been wearing his lifejacket (PFD). Coast Watch was called and we retrieved his boat which was over five nautical miles off shore and heading for Tasmania.

SAFETY TIP:
Become familiar with the different types of PFDs you must carry on your boat and when they must be worn .. it may just save your life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUXID_8VeWk . If you fish alone, you should also consider investing in a GPS equipped personal locator beacon (PLB) and attach it to your lifejacket. It will greatly increase your chances of being quickly located and rescued.

When not performing real life rescues, we take the opportunity for our crews to practice, practice, practice. Using a restored training vessel that we can take out to sea or use in the river, we regularly hold training sessions using a range of towing techniques under different conditions. We also practice the safe retrieval of people from the water, navigation and search techniques. This sharpens our skills and prepares us for the real thing.

It’s not all hard work at Coast Watch. At one of our training sessions just before Christmas we had an additional crew member join us. After leaving his sleigh and reindeer ashore, Santa took to the water in the Coast Watch rescue boat to greet people along the Barwon River.

And for those who are wondering, his red coat is actually an inflatable lifejacket!

A number of Coast Watch members obtained or renewed their First Aid and Emergency Response qualifications at a training course conducted by an outside provider at our headquarters in Ocean Grove. These skills are an important part of our training program because they help prepare us for medical emergencies at sea or ashore.

After obtaining permits and notifying all the relevant authorities, Coast Watch members gathered at the Ocean Grove boat ramp to learn about the different types of distress flares and become familiar with their use. This was a vital part of our training program because most of us (fortunately) have not had to use a distress flare in a real life emergency situation.

On Fathers’ day 2017, a family group fishing off Barwon Heads struck the reef near the wreck of the Orungal (The Boilers) and damaged their propeller. Unable to make headway, they were caught in deteriorating conditions and drifting out to sea when we arrived and rescued them. They were very relieved and grateful to be towed back to the safety of the boat ramp in the Barwon River.

Coast Watch helped out by acting as a safety boat during the Ocean Grove Surf Lifesaving Club K Rock Open Ocean Swim off the Ocean Grove beach. We also helped to deploy the inflatable marker buoys that guided the swimmers around the course. The Coast Watch crew is seen here with rubber duckies from Ocean Grove SLC. We were happy to report that our rescue services were not needed on this occasion.

Like many organisations, we have held sausage sizzles at Bunnings Warehouse to help with our fundraising efforts. Our ready and willing team of volunteers have given many hours of their time to prepare and sell hundreds of these tempting treats, and so help us raise money for ongoing running costs such as fuel, insurance, maintenance, training and the protective equipment needed for our operations.
It does not interfere with our rescue work, and on a cold and windy day, it is more fun cooking sausages on a BBQ than being tossed about in an open boat.

Thanks to financial assistance from the Ocean Grove Connected Communities group, we were able to supplement our own funds and purchase a protective canopy for our rescue vessel. Because of the height restrictions when going under the Barwon Heads bridge, this had to be made detachable in case we are called out at high tide. Grove Marine Fabrications, a local company, were able to design, build and install just what we needed.

Six teenage canoeists got into difficulties while paddling up the Barwon River to Lake Connewarre. A change of tide and strong head winds left them exhausted and unable to complete the return journey. They raised the alarm and at the request of the Water Police, Coast Watch was able to arrange a shallow water vessel to go upstream and retrieve them. Towed line astern, they made a colourful procession back down the river.