A SKIPPER and his crew were relieved to be on safe ground last Tuesday after the engine of their 15.2m yacht failed as it approached Cape Hawk Harbour.
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At about 5.30pm on Tuesday January 21, owner and skipper Andrew Howarth and his three crew members had the intention to stay the night in Cape Hawke Harbour before continuing their voyage to Warneet in Victoria when their yacht, Otama’s engine suddenly sputtered and died.
Mr Howarth says he worked on the engine for quite some time with no luck and began to feel nauseous from the fumes in the engine bay.
“It got to the stage where I was leaning over the side feeding the fish,” he said
“I discussed the situation with my crew and we decided it was time to ask for help.”
An assistance call was sent out to Marine Rescue Forster which was received by watch officer Barry Edmunds.
“The poor guy sounded really crook,” Mr Edmunds said.
“We called out the Amanda Lani (rescue vessel) and it arrived at the Otama at about 6.45pm with coxswain Peter Nash as skipper and a crew of Paul Miller, Gerard Crowe and Mike Thomas.”
Coxswain Peter Nash said with the vessel weighing in at about three times the weight of the Marine Rescue boat the operation proved harder and longer than expected.
“The ketch weighed in at about 20 tonnes,” Mr Nash said.
“The yacht was hard to get moving and slow to come to a stop. Towing her in through the Cape Hawke entrance at the bottom of the tide and two metre pressure waves in near darkness was a challenge.
“The waves were pushing well past the turn into the Tuncurry channel.”
Mr Howarth said he and his crew breathed a sigh of relief when at about 9pm the Otama dropped anchor in the channel outside the Tuncurry Fishing Coop.
An inspection of the yacht the following day discovered that polluted fuel filters had caused the failure.
A support crew of the Otama travelling by road were able to obtain the required parts and the Otama was off again on Thursday morning, escorted by a pod of about 15 dolphins as the vessel rounded Bennetts Head.
Mr Howarth expressed his appreciation to the local Marine Rescue crew by giving them a generous donation.
“You guys really saved our bacon. Your efforts on our behalf were very much appreciated,” Mr Howarth told Marine Rescue’s Grant Maxwell.