Gold Coast Broadwater claims more boats
Yet another victim of the shallows of the Gold Coast Broadwater has made the headlines.
'The GC Broadwater needs regular dredging.'
Just last week, the Sydney grand prix racing yacht, Yendys ran aground in the silted up waterway between Currigee and Crab Island.
The 16.8m carbon-constructed racer was on its way to Sydney after a two-week stay at the Gold Coast City Marina. Yendys, owned by seasoned sailor, Geoff Ross, is worth millions of dollars and has contested some of the biggest offshore ocean races, including the Sydney to Hobart.
Ross won the overall handicap section of Australia's premier race in 1999 aboard another yacht called 'Yendys' ('Sydney' in reverse).
Despite best attempts by crew to dislodge the vessel, at 1.30pm the yacht was still sitting in just 5.2m of water on a falling tide, resting on its keel.
Yendys was not the only casualty that week. The Gold Coast City Marina also reported two luxury cruisers sitting in dry dock waiting for repairs to bent propellers after they ran aground.
Dean Leigh-Smith, a director of the Gold Coast City Marina commented that the situation is progressively getting worse. 'While everyone has seen a decline in boat sales because of the economic climate, there is also a fear factor up here because some owners are intimidated by the conditions.
'The Gold Coast is starting to get a bit of a reputation about its waterways. If people don't buy boats up here it won't just be the boat businesses that experience a downturn.
The committee tasked with the job of analyzing the Broadwater and south-east Queensland waterways quotes figures from the insurance industry on damage to boats on local waterways. Their stats reveal $1.3 million a year, or about $5000 to $10,000 for each claim at a rate of about two claims per week.
Queensland Transport and the Department of Infrastructure and Planning have commissioned a Gold Coast waterways access needs study which was due for completion by June, but is likely to be released later this year.
by Jeni Bone 
Bermagui, NSW
