Ballina Bar claims 2 more ???

[Prof]

http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/thr ... e/1829614/


Makes you wonder what the distressed boat was doing out there in seas that big ??


Maybe they will dredge the bar now??

Cheers

[maxi]

its bloody great that no lives were lost dut to the experience of our boys, but, what the hell did the motor cruiser think they were doing !!

in my mind a 36ftr should be able to go wide and jog into the sea untill the light came at least... but panic sets in i suppose .. now we dont have a marine rescue vessel ... those guys would be shattered and happy at the same time .. well done Mark and crew ...

[pink nipper]

The pleasure craft was trying to cross the bar in 2-3 metre seas on an outgoing tide
so I can only suggest that it was on a suicide mission. Even the larger prawn trawlers
out of Ballina don't cross the bar in anything over about 1.5 metres and go out and in
on the incoming tide in such conditions.

I heard the pleasure craft dropped its anchor to try to hold position in a final act of desperation
and when the rescue boat came to get 'em the anchor rope fouled around the rescue boats props too.
There's a lesson in there somewhere...

The bar hasn't been dredged since the early seventies and the dredging that is currently proposed
is only going to take 10cm of sand so as soon as the next big seas come after the dredging
it will be filled back in. There has to be an extension and curving of the breakwalls. It may not
be common knowledge but they ran out of funds and never actually finished the walls, they were intended
to go out further but never did.

Nip.

[Prof]

They have already had a surveyor look at the bar for dredging , but his brief was for 400mm, but now they say that will have to increase that, so they are waiting for conditions to improve so they can re survey the bar.

Hope they don't wait too long or there will be another victim !!

Cheers.

[Prof]

Latest update

http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/fir ... t/1831068/

Cheers

[dan23]

The surf has been so big that people were towing into waves up and down the coast on jet skis all weekend so anyone who tried to cross a bar needed their head read. Most of my mates who are experienced surfers didn't even paddle out because it was too dagerous. Wonder what would happen if marine rescue put a cut off in their policy of not rescuing boats attempting to cross the bar in seas over 2m. Would hopefully make a few people think a bit harder about things.