The cruiser that sparked a dramatic rescue in waters off the Great Lakes is currently awaiting repairs in a slipway at Tuncurry fisherman’s co-op.
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Local Maritime NSW officer, Nick Richards, said the vessel needed to be assessed by the owner’s insurance company before it could be fixed and deemed seaworthy .
Forster Tuncurry Marine Rescue responded to a call at 8.20pm on Tuesday, February 19 regarding a 40-foot cruiser taking on water one nautical mile off Boomerang Beach.
The rescue boat motored to the scene and found two men aboard the sinking vessel.
“They were very distressed,” Marine Rescue skipper, Peter Nash, said.
“They thought they were going to have to swim for it.”
According to Mr Nash, the owner of the vessel had purchased the second-hand cruiser a few days previous and was attempting to navigate it back to his home in Yamba.
Having set off from Port Stephens earlier in the afternoon, he and his fellow occupant ran into trouble when the boat started taking in water.
With Marine Rescue towing the damaged vessel back to Forster Tuncurry harbour, it continued to take on water until it lost all power and the rescue boat was forced to tow it at a reduced speed.
Then, when the rescue team entered the harbour, a pressure wave hit the cruiser and broke the bow, disconnecting the two vessels.
After drifting towards the northern break wall, the cruiser was reconnected to the rescue boat, which continued to tow it to safety.
Finally, just before 3am, Marine Rescue dispatched the cruiser and its occupants at a pontoon inside the harbour.
In the aftermath, the cruiser became partially submerged and was issued with a clean-up notice by Mr Richards on Wednesday, February 20.
The vessel was deemed a threat to the local aquaculture industry and officers from Fire and Rescue and Hazmat attended the scene, deploying a hydrocarbon boom to soak up leaking fuel and a containment boom to contain the water around the vessel.
Water was then pumped from the cruiser in order to float it, so that a local salvage operator could identify the cause of the leak and repair it if possible.
“Unfortunately, the source of the leak wasn’t immediately obvious,” Mr Richards said.
Mr Richards praised everyone involved in the rescue and clean-up mission, saying there had been no impact on the local environment.
“The response was really good,” he said.
“Things are on track and we’re just waiting for the next move from the insurance company.”
