04/10/2026
Sunday - 3 Boats on Water, 2 Open Day Community Events and 1 Boat sunk with 4 survivors all rescued, a happy result to a sad incident - rescued jointly by MRW and a passing boat.
Details
We had 3 boats on the Water. In the morning we had Green1 and Green3 in the Ocean Reef Sea Sports Club opening day parade then around lunchtime we had the two boats at Hillarys Yacht Club opening day. Meanwhile our third boat was nearby just outside or near the entrance on standby to respond while also flying a drone to get photos of the events.
During the Ocean Reef Sea Sports Club event we also did a photoshoot with the three boats together while during the second event at Hillarys Yacht Club we had to curtail the drone shoot and land very quickly (about 30sec) as we received a call that an EPIRB had been activated about 1Nm SW of Hillarys.
Whitfords 2 responded and was on scene within 6 mins of the callout to find a vessel had sunk, the 4 persons onboard had been rapidly picked up by another nearby boat. Our boat arrived and questioned the sunk boat's crew for injuries, shock, cold and together with the responding private boat they agreed to bring them to the ramps and wait for us. Meanwhile we started recovering some large items of flotsam which presented potential hazards to shipping including a large fibreglass console and a 50l red fuel tank full of fuel which we secured to prevent leaks and returned these items to the owners.
We also after discussion with the Water Police recommended that they make an incident report verbally to WA department of Transport WA followed by a paper report and also to MERS (environment response).
All boat passengers were safe and sound and in relatively good humour, likely due to Adrenaline and having survived a sinking. The boaters also kindly made a cash donation on the spot (not compulsory but is always welcomed as it helps us train more), thanks for that lads!
Its always sad to see someone lose their pride and joy but happy to pull people unharmed from the sea, boats can be replaced, people can't.
A couple of lessons we'd like to share - general points.
The crew had their lifejackets and they were accessible but weren't wearing them. In this case they were picked up so quickly they didn't really have time to put them on and they floated free. However nothing beats already wearing your lifejacket. Consider in your boating wearing an inflatable lifejacket (but having a foam one in the boat also). Remember wearing a lifejacket is now compulsory for some boats under a specific size and for kids.
Another lesson is the value of an EPIRB. We didn't actually receive the EPIRB on our sets until we got close - The antenna needs to be fully extended and above water....BUT EPIRBS put out a VHF signal on 121.5MHz that we can track but also send out a 406MHz UHF signal to satellites. Despite us not hearing the VHF signal Australian Maritime Safety Authority - AMSA in Canberra received the satellite signal fast, sent the callout to WA Western Australia Police Force which despatched us - The system WORKS - Make sure you have an EPIRB - In test, Easy to grab and Grab it FIRST (I love flares, but nothing beats an EPIRB).
Watch out for the videos coming soon of the opening days.
Photos - I.Jones
