MAKING WAVES Greater Sydney News
Mark Rutherford aboard his new craft. Photo: Mark Rutherford
MR Port Jackson ponder ‘who we are’ A salute to our members - and a cautionary tale
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rticles in Soundings describe well what we do and what we have done, but less so who we are. Let me recount my experience which tells us who we are. I am a Marine Rescue Port Jackson member of about a
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from all of you, I have done that! I bought a boat in which I had no experience. Groans just got louder. I’m a yachtie, and my new boat is a high-powered, planing hull cruiser. Great for the grandkids on the Harbour. Not so good for a sailor
Marine Rescue Ballina, Iluka Yamba, Coffs Harbour, Nambucca, Trial Bay and Port Macquarie. This is a salute to you guys.
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year and a bit with a lifetime of professional and personal boating experience to use to the advantage of the public now that I have the time and ability to do so. I bought a boat. Groans I can hear
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who has travelled thousands of miles at five knots. Five hundred nautical miles delivery from Gold Coast to Sydney? No problem - in a yacht. In a fast boat? Even with careful weather
planning, foolishness as I now know. If it had not have been for our community of Marine Rescue from Point Danger to Port Macquarie, my tale might be different. As we struggled our way south, consuming petrol that would make a Russian oligarch rub his hands together, we found ourselves in positions that Marine Rescue NSW might be called upon to assist. Empty tanks, vigorous bar, no fuelling marina. Time to phone a friend. Marine Rescue Ballina, Iluka Yamba, Coffs Harbour, Nambucca, Trial Bay and Port Macquarie. This is a salute to you guys. On the phone and Channel 16/19 you were superb. You went above and beyond. To Ian at Marine Rescue Trial Bay a huge thanks. We entered the Macleay River on a falling tide, on fumes, buoyed by your options
A, B and C. Dear reader, option C was to bring the refuelling trailer to the public dock and fill us up. I could not accept that, option B worked. I firmly believe that a delivery voyage, for a seasoned sailor who can now earn beers off the tale, might well have finished differently, if I had not been a member of Marine Rescue NSW and called upon our community for help and advice. To think that we offer the same service to any boater, no questions asked, no obligation. Marine Rescue NSW volunteers, applaud yourselves. This is who we are, not what we do. Oh, in case you were wondering, the boat did eventually make it to Sydney. On a truck. Mark Rutherford
