Volunteer rescuers busy after thunderstorm hits

4:32 AM Thu 14 Jan 2010 GMT

'Yacht under tow off Lion Island' .

Yesterday's late thunderstorm that swept north of Sydney kept volunteers from Marine Rescue NSW busy with two successful rescues of sailing boats one after the other.

At 5.46pm a crew was called to help a yacht which had run aground near Gosford, and, happy with their work, then headed home.

However, half-an-hour later, before they had even reached their Point Clare base, they were told of another yacht in trouble in Broken Bay.

The yacht, with crewed by a solo sailor, was in difficulty in the storm about one nautical mile off Lion Island. The boat's sail reefing gear had jammed meaning its foresail couldn't be furled and the engine would not start.

The wind was gusting up to 30 knots causing rising 3m waves. The rescue crew reached the yacht about 6.50pm. By then it was just half a nautical mile off Lion Island, and would almost certainly have hit rocks off the island without the intervention of the volunteers.

"Conditions had deteriorated with a thunderstorm, heavy rain and squally winds making life unpleasant and seas very confused," Marine Rescue Central Coast spokesman Ron Cole said.

"The rescue boat crew got a line aboard the yacht and began a tow towards Pittwater."

The yacht skipper and rescue boat crew decided to head west to shelter under West Head so the owner could furl the jammed sail.

"This was successful and it was then decided that the safest location overnight was Refuge Bay.'

Refuge Bay is a vast and secure bay off the broadwater of Broken Bay, and populated with dozens of mooring buoys.

by Alison Buckland, Express Advocate/Sail-World