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Post by fish on Mar 21, 2022 12:36:37 GMT 12
The skipper of the fishing charter boat that sank during a storm in the Far North last night survived and rescuers continue to search for the remaining two people lost at sea.
It is understood a group of Aucklanders were onboard the Enchanter fishing vessel when it first raised the alarm just after 8pm last night.
Experienced skipper Lance Goodhew then radioed into Radio Mangonui at 10pm saying he was about an hour off the North Cape before losing signal
An hour later the boat was submerged underwater at Murimotu leaving the 10 onboard scrambling for survival.
"Apparently it was on their journey north back to the Three Kings that they struck torrential weather."
www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/fishing-boat-tragedy-skipper-among-the-survivors-search-continues-for-last-two-missing/VTGJWLPVOXQOXQTFEADTPOB4RI/
... some confusion in the media reporting It was heading back from Three Kings Islands when the weather turned. Three Kings Islands are a group of 13 uninhabited islands about 55 kilometres northwest of Cape ReingaA fishermen said Three Kings is currently having the best game fishing in a decade and all the charter boat companies are heading out there.
www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2022/03/five-people-rescued-as-major-maritime-operation-underway-in-far-north.html Based on years of reputation, I am confident the Herald is wrong. Every other news outlet said the emergency beacon was activated at 8 pm while the boat was sinking, so not sure how he could have made a radio call at 10 pm advising of progress. That, and every other news outlet said they were returning from 3 Kings. This is most logical, coming back on a Sunday, and because the weather was shitting out. (some would say it had shat out, but it would have been worse in that front we had overnight / this morning).
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Post by ComfortZone on Mar 21, 2022 12:40:46 GMT 12
I know it is their job, but once again you have to "take your hat off" to the chopper crew going out in that weather and managing to locate the 5 they rescued. It would have been pitch black with the chopper bouncing all around in the air.
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Post by eri on Mar 21, 2022 13:25:50 GMT 12
you'd think
they were heading back from the 3 kings
perhaps cracked the old double-diagonal at 8pm, started taking on water and set off the beacon, starting the events to get the choppers up
continued on for another 2 hours to the radio call at 10pm saying they were still an hour from the cape
sometimes around 11pm and just off north cape the boat sank, and all 10 wearing jackets clung to the upturned hull in the breaking seas
5 got taken off by the helicopter about midnight, but 5 had already been washed off the hull
in the early hours the boat hit the shore and broke up.....first light the chopper retrieved 2 bodies from the water and a searching boat another
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Post by fish on Mar 21, 2022 13:59:12 GMT 12
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Post by eri on Mar 21, 2022 16:21:14 GMT 12
once again shows the importance of having beacons and not being afraid to use them
the beacon would have been sending out positions updates accurate to a few meters while the helos were gotten ready and able to fly in the dark to the lat/long
if the 10 individuals had also had small <$500 beacons on their lifejackets and set them off when their feet got wet maybe everyone could have been found even in the dark and away from the boat
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Post by fish on Mar 21, 2022 17:20:20 GMT 12
once again shows the importance of having beacons and not being afraid to use them the beacon would be been sending out positions updates accurate to a few meters while the helos were gotten ready and able to fly in the dark to the lat/long if the 10 individuals had also had small <$500 beacons on their lifejackets and set them off when their feet got wet maybe everyone could have been found even in the dark and away from the boat Absolutely, on the value of beacons, but lights on the LJ's may have been just as effective in the dark (noting PLB's have lights also) once the helo was basically overhead. 10 or 11 PLB signals would be complicated to separate and locate I would expect. Would have helped to have found them. Whether or not they would have been found alive is the next question. I wouldn't back myself to survive in an LJ in the sea state I expect they were in. You would swallow a significant amount of water floating in that kind of sea. I am sure there must be a tail to tell from the helos. Finding 5 people in the dark, in a gale, sounds good going. Needing to find 10 at once sounds like a nightmare. Does anyone know if they were pulled off the boat or out of the water? I can't actually imagine finding 5 people and recovering them from the water, noting it is one thing to find them, and something else again to successfully recover them. Off the boat before it sank, maybe.
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Post by eri on Mar 21, 2022 17:27:50 GMT 12
latest is
"Five people who were plucked to safety from the boat, which sunk overnight, are now out of hospital"
remember the beacons don't send a signal to the helo
the lat/long reports get sent to wellington (civil defence)
from there a cluster of 5 people with the same lat/long as the boat's epirb would have been apparent and easily radioed to the biggest helo with winch capacity
individual drifter lat/long could be sent to boats o the water or other helos
when i was doing the coastal, or short handed sailing, it was with a beacon in a 1 pdf pocket (for eventual helo lift) and a small high powered led waterproof torch, in the other, (for own boat rescue)...both on lanyards
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2022 17:33:03 GMT 12
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Post by eri on Mar 21, 2022 17:35:44 GMT 12
the water between the 3 kings and northern nz has been as evil as cook straight since kupe was a boy is it a 'rouge wave' when gale force winds are sending swells with thousands of km 'fetch' toward a reef? on fagan's swirly world trip around nzhe was always very careful about the southern seamounts where the ocean swells 'rose up' enough to swallow an 18' boat "The results show a strong interaction that leads to significant changes in the wave field, creating wake zones and regions of large wave amplification."link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10236-017-1107-7
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Post by ComfortZone on Mar 21, 2022 17:55:06 GMT 12
or duck in behind Cape Reinga at Twilight Beach, trawlers often shelter there. Looking at the chart, there is no reef in the area, just some rocks close to Murimotu Island. Surely they could not have been that close in. Also noticeable on the chart is how the depth is 500m a few mile to the east shallowing up to 50-80m around Nth Cape, with the wind driving in from the NE would really push up the waves
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Post by eri on Mar 21, 2022 19:17:40 GMT 12
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Post by fish on Mar 21, 2022 19:49:06 GMT 12
remember the beacons don't send a signal to the helo the lat/long reports get sent to wellington (civil defence) from there a cluster of 5 people with the same lat/long as the boat's epirb would have been apparent and easily radioed to the biggest helo with winch capacity individual drifter lat/long could be sent to boats o the water or other helos when i was doing the coastal, or short handed sailing, it was with a beacon in a 1 pdf pocket (for eventual helo lift) and a small high powered led waterproof torch, in the other, (for own boat rescue)...both on lanyards That isn't quiet right. The beacons all have a 121.5Hz homing signal. This is what the Helo uses to find you. The lat long is primarily to tell them which general area to fly to, and obviously the sat link part to alert an emergency. Now, I have zero experience as a rescue pilot, but I would think having 10 homing signals would just be a racket, and you wouldn't be able to home in on any of them. But that said, I would think everyone would be far better off with a PLB than without one. They do give a position via sat, even if the homing part is too noisy. That a strobe, which would be of significant benefit in the dark. I am with you in carrying a beacon. I always wear one when sailing short handed, and even have one in my impact vest for wind-foiling / wind-surfing now. Other than my ability to injure myself while blasting, you never know when you will have a gear breakage and get blown out to the Barrier. On the beacon topic though, I'd be more interested in the type and spec of the LJ's they were using, and the type of clothing they had on. The standard budget MSA foam LJ's would be hopeless in a seaway. I got one of the top shelf crewsaver ones. 250 newtons bouyancy (to roll you face up when full clothed), twin crotch straps, full face shield - this is key, to let you breath a bit and not take water straight up the nose or down the throat every time a wave hits, and a minging bright light. I think the key points are crutch strap, extra bouyancy, and the face shield. Clothing would be a major impediment if you ended up in the water. Assuming you had the time after discovering the problem, and thought you had a risk of ending up in the water, I'd be keen to put on a wetsuit (assuming you'd take a wettie on a fishing trip, I always have one on the yacht). Both for the warmth / thermal protection, ease of movement in the water, and the additional floatation. Going into the water with jeans, a rugby jersey and a fleece or woollen sweater would be seriously sub-optimal. It will be interesting to understand the full story in due course. oceansignal.com/products/plb1/
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Post by dutyfree on Mar 21, 2022 19:55:06 GMT 12
I assume they would have had a beam sea as the came along the cliffs? Rolled by a breaking wave? As I learnt just a few weeks ago a breaking wave equal to your beam can roll you. Peak wave height at the BOI wave bouy was 6.47m at 15.15, and stayed up in that level until almost midnight. Significant wave height was 3.6m or so over the same period.
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Post by dutyfree on Mar 21, 2022 20:00:20 GMT 12
Getting in with your clothes is fine if you have a lifejacket. Worth doing the advanced sea survival course. Its the loss of body heat that will get you in the end. Clothes with a life jacket in a huddle with others will maximise opportunity. Better in a life raft. As a charter boat they would have had one, so either lost it or it happened so fast they could not deploy it.
You are correct about a quality life jacket and crotch straps etc. Only learnt about the spray hoods the other weekend.
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Post by OLD ROPE 👀 on Mar 22, 2022 7:48:06 GMT 12
Presumably this will automatically lead to a MNZ enquiry? I’m trying to remember when this bad weather was first forecast - it was a few days ago I think? If they do, it will be entirely ineffective, and lead to more regulations completely unrelated to what caused this tragedy. But I am thinking the charter fishing industry will be in for something. The last major tragedy was the charter boat crossing the Kaipara bar. What was the toll on that one, 7? Exactly . This skipper took a chance on getting to the three kings for a fish and then Back to cover ( lee of North cape) before the "well signposted" front kicked in. This front was on windy on Wednesday - Thursday showing it would play out as it did. Every good seaman would have said NO!... then looked at the iso bars closing up and the barometer dropping and gone No NO! Money and big fish overcome saftey and postponement.
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