Charter boat overturns off mooloolaba

[SunnyCoastMark]

Hey Guys,
Came across this in the Sunshine Coast daily This morning. Fortunately every one is OK.

Fishermen plucked from sinking charter vessel





.http://media2.apnonline.com.au/img/media/images/2012/11/26/SCN_26-11-2012_EGN_01_SCN251112BOATa_t460.jpg

The stricken boat floats upside-down yesterday morning after it was towed back to Mooloolaba.
SEVEN fishermen had to be rescued as they clung to a Mooloolaba charter boat that capsized off the Sunshine Coast.
The Offshore Reef and Game Fishing boat overturned during a fishing charter on Saturday afternoon, with five passengers and two crew members on board.
The skipper sent out a mayday call about 2.30pm, before setting off an emergency flare six nautical miles north-east of Caloundra.
A pilot vessel on its way back to Mooloolaba from the shipping grounds responded to the call for help, plucking the
fishermen from the upturned hull.
Brisbane Marine Pilots chairman Ross Nicholls said the boat had sunk to the water line by the time his crew
arrived.
"It was pretty lucky that they were out there because the boat sunk in a matter of minutes," Mr Nicholls said.
"They were all hanging onto the hull when we arrived.
"The crew were able to get all the men on board and take them back to safety without a worry."
Police said Offshore Reef and Game Fishing bought the 10-metre boat about a month ago from the Volunteer Marine Rescue in Brisbane.
It was believed to be the same vessel that suffered major damage after colliding with a whale near Stradbroke Island in June last year.
The collision tore apart one of the hulls and was believed to have cost $70,000 to fix.
After Saturday's incident off Caloundra, the overturned boat was towed to Mooloolaba.
A salvage crew spent several hours righting the vessel yesterday morning before it was towed to Lawrie's Marina for inspection.
Water Police officer-in-charge Sergeant Kyle Bates said it was still unclear why the boat capsized.
"Police will be investigating, but at this stage it is unclear," Sgt Bates said.
"There was no obvious sign as to why it capsized.
"We will be taking a marine surveyor to do an inspection over the next few days."
The owners of the charter business were contacted yesterday but declined to comment.

[nelton87]

Charter Boat Overturns

Glad to see everyone is okay, But once again the media has it wrong!
It is not the vessel that hit a whale of Stradbroke Island
It is a totally different vessel, This vessel is a 3000 Power Cat and the vessel that hit the whale was a Cougar Cat.
I saw the vessel that hit the whale yesterday out from Cleveland towing another boatie home.
Cheers
Nelton

[cormorant]

level floatation is great isn't it?

[The Woo]

Would REALLY like to hear how this happened.

[johncar]

Well I don't know what the conditions were like on the day it happened but I have been in a 9m cat in that same area which at the hands of an inexperienced skipper of that type of craft almost flipped her over. It happened very quick while trying to turn on a big following wave, the starboard side nose dug in and next thing we are on our side about to go over and thankfully after teetering either way for a few seconds she dropped back right side up with about 150mm of water covering the deck. We drained her off and got going again. I had a new respect for the handling of cats in a following sea from that tiime on and when at the helm myself, made sure never to put one in that situation and have never had a problem although always a bit nervous from that lesson.

[SNAPPERCOFFIN]

The boat was not moving was at anchor took on water and rolled. My guess is you dont have a clue better to make no comment at all than a inexperienced guess. How do I know this first hand my son works for the charter and they dont even know what the cause was.

[The Woo]

I can understand it wallowing and eventually rolling if it took on a lot of water. If that's the case this breed of cat must be one of the few without seperated watertight compartments, or at the very least, seperated sponsons.

[SunnyCoastMark]

I can understand it wallowing and eventually rolling if it took on a lot of water. If that's the case this breed of cat must be one of the few without seperated watertight compartments, or at the very least, seperated sponsons.

So either - one sponson has filled with water (likely) or the deck has flooded (unlikely). In the absence of something stupid occuring.

Mark

[The Woo]

So either - one sponson has filled with water (likely) or the deck has flooded (unlikely). In the absence of something stupid occuring.

Mark

Yeah I failed to elaborate. One sponson filling seems logical, BUT, the boat appears to be upturned, but floating level, rather one sponson being submerged and the other mainting its bouyancy?
I guess the insurance company will find out what happenededed.

[lethal098]

Amazing what heresay does, it creates rumours that arent even close to the Truth,

if you think about it of course they knew it was going to be catastrophic, how else would he have made a MAYDAY CALL?? Must have known it was going pear shaped,

Doubt whether or not we will ever know what truly happened,

[Zimkideo]

The Sunshine Coast Daily are not ones to let the truth get in the way of a good story!

[walruss]

Well quite obviously like other recent threads that appear, it must have a design flaw in the hull, the boat builder must be fully gutted until their business is in danger, the dealer held to ransom re the boatbuilders liability, and of course the owner operator is totally blameless no matter what happened or the result of any enquiry.
As is seems with similar matters b**LSH**T baffles brains and commonsense.

[johncar]

The boat was not moving was at anchor took on water and rolled. My guess is you dont have a clue better to make no comment at all than a inexperienced guess. How do I know this first hand my son works for the charter and they dont even know what the cause was.

Hehe, no need to be nasty. I never said I knew what happened, at least I didn't mean to. Just saying I almost went over in the same location in a similar style of boat and brought back memories which I learnt from.
I think in the absence of facts, there is no harm in a little speculation, it is just conversation here so please don't attack me.

[johncar]

Amazing what heresay does, it creates rumours that arent even close to the Truth,

if you think about it of course they knew it was going to be catastrophic, how else would he have made a MAYDAY CALL?? Must have known it was going pear shaped,

Doubt whether or not we will ever know what truly happened,

I too thought about the MayDay call and if they would have time, but I keep a waterproof handheld VHF in my emergency gear grab bag so I figured any decent charter operator would have at least that also, so they could call after the boat flipped over in that case. "just conversation, I don't know anything"

[Richo1]

It is a shame boaties rarely get to here what actually happened. It is good to learn from others mistakes. MSQ used to do Safety Reports on recent incident which were based on their findings after the inquiry - they don't seem to bother anymore.
Nothing wrong with discussing possible scenarios and causes how else do you learn to avoid getting yourself into the same situation?

[Drew70]

The Raby Bay powercat was a full survery boat and hence had watertight compartments in each hull and likley to have foam fill. Stability tests would have indicated weight loadings and hence I doubt very much the boat simply rolled over. I was interested in that boat a few months ago but found powercats handle quite different then traditional sharkcats (which I have had three 28's) and cougars the charter guys have been operating being far heavier boats in weight and stablity in the water. This power cat is lightwieght and has high horsepower with twin Suzuki 300's (standard 3000 powercat is rated to max 200 hp) and I wouldn't be suprised at all being a new boat for the skipper that the incident occured pulling the anchor with big horspower.
just my thoughts
Drew

[SNAPPERCOFFIN]

The Raby Bay powercat was a full survery boat and hence had watertight compartments in each hull and likley to have foam fill. Stability tests would have indicated weight loadings and hence I doubt very much the boat simply rolled over. I was interested in that boat a few months ago but found powercats handle quite different then traditional sharkcats (which I have had three 28's) and cougars the charter guys have been operating being far heavier boats in weight and stablity in the water. This power cat is lightwieght and has high horsepower with twin Suzuki 300's (standard 3000 powercat is rated to max 200 hp) and I wouldn't be suprised at all being a new boat for the skipper that the incident occured pulling the anchor with big horspower.
just my thoughts
Drew

Read my other post boat was at anchor not moving know this 100%. Keep guessing if it keeps you all occupied.

[The Woo]

Given there's so many Billfish around, maybe the boat was struck by a whole school of them and holed so badly it took on water in several compartments!?!?!

[Feral]

This the type of commercial boat required to have positive flotation?
Must of been some sort of catastrophic failure to go like that.

[Drew70]

Theres a commerical skippers licence on the line here and insurances, I wouldnt believe too much of what is being told from the boat.

[Camhawk88]

Theres a commerical skippers licence on the line here and insurances, I wouldnt believe too much of what is being told from the boat.
Yep seems a bit odd if they were 100% motionless and cant work out why they took on enough water to flip it. Snappercoffin's harsh response to a blokes story of his experience and a throw away line guessing what may have happened seems a little over protective too.

[WalrusLike]

The comment that 'light cat big power new skipper can equal overturn up anchoring' is very interesting.

Not at all saying that is the case here, but just out of interest... how do you overturn upping an anchor?

[adding: Not being smart or sarcastic, just don't know much and i want to know more]

[Drew70]

Commerical anchor lines that are multistranded can have massive breaking strains well over 2 T. Well grounded anchors without trips require pressure to break loose. There is no give in the rope and if bow sprit has been well made a combination of sea state and speed / power of the pull at the wrong angle can overturn boats. An unfamiliar boat compunds the situation of how it will react when a high strain is placed on it.

[WalrusLike]

Ah.... thanks Drew. My experience has been limited to anchors I could always release by gently motoring over them. I see now what you mean.

Again..., this is not talking about the current incident... just a general inquiry.

[The Woo]

Commerical anchor lines that are multistranded can have massive breaking strains well over 2 T. Well grounded anchors without trips require pressure to break loose. There is no give in the rope and if bow sprit has been well made a combination of sea state and speed / power of the pull at the wrong angle can overturn boats. An unfamiliar boat compunds the situation of how it will react when a high strain is placed on it.

Can and does happen when attempts are made to "drive off" the anchor and it fails to release, when all the bad moons align.

[Donkeyzmilk]

definite flux capacitor issue , no doubt!

[Horse]

Did it have Etecs?????

[PinHead]

Theres a commerical skippers licence on the line here and insurances, I wouldnt believe too much of what is being told from the boat.

nor would I believe the guesses on forums.

[Owen]

Come on Greg.
My giant octopus theory would have flown!

[seastorm]

Don't you hate it when you forget to put the bungs in

[thelump]

Come on Greg.
My giant octopus theory would have flown!

A flying Giant octopus. Now THAT would be cool!

[Coodgee]

we were out off Maloolaba and heard the mayday call. I'd say it happened pretty quickly because from my patchy memory of the day, he only gave the mayday call and his lat and long and that was it. There seemed to be a lot of confusion over the radio because there was no further information given as far as I can remember, like what the exact situation was.

[Muddy Toes]

While we're all speculating my theory is that this photo was actually snapped in North Queensland.

Just goes to show nothing will ever be able to tame the North Queensland chop....not even a 30 foot cat.

[hino310]

Did it have Etecs?????

These four words did make me laugh.

[Richo1]

Anchor rope around prop, flooded by a large swell over the stern???

[WalrusLike]

Everyone on board ran out of the way to one side because one bloke landed an angry swordfish?

[Zippidy]

Read my other post boat was at anchor not moving know this 100%. Keep guessing if it keeps you all occupied.

Not quite sure why you're being so defensive. It's just a few guys having a guess, there's no harm intended.

But for what it's worth, it was the bungs. I know a mate of a mate of a mate of a mate who's son works on the boat and that's what he said.

[The Woo]

Brisbane Marine Pilots chairman Ross Nicholls said the boat had sunk to the water line by the time his crew arrived.


Sheeeet! Sinking to the waterline... that IS scary!

[SunnyCoastMark]

Sheeeet! Sinking to the waterline... that IS scary!


I guess it is - if the boat is upside down...........

[Captain Seaweed]

could have had a faulty flux capacitor?

[cormorant]

could have had a faulty flux capacitor?

That would be a technical term "flucked capacitor" Happens when the North and south pole change polarity. I think cats come fitted with em as standard and the gyroscopic force flipped it as they wern't aligned with the stars.
I always said cats were stable at rest - just never thought of doing it this way.

Glad they all swam away ok


This one wasn't long ago -
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/fisherman-blames-whale-for-boat-flip-20120820-24i84.html

[Captain Seaweed]

I will check my flux capacitor when it turns up commorant :)

[cobiaman]

I like the marlin theory the best...

[littlemac]

it's still someones boat and it sucks this happened

my thoughts anyway

cheers

brett

[morphias]

Apparently an underfloor kill tank void that should have been foam fill and water tight sealed. It became unsealed, filled with water throughout the day and the boat was too far gone before the skipper notice. He put out the mayday, got everyone in PFD's and in the water, waited for it to roll on its back and then got everyone in the tunnel to help came along.

Sounds to me like the marine surveyor is going to be neck deep in the @#$ over this. That said, I am surprised it got that bad without someone noticing sooner.

Has SNAPPERCOFFIN got any conflicting or better details than this?

[Boat Hog]

Apparently an underfloor kill tank void that should have been foam fill and water tight sealed. It became unsealed, filled with water throughout the day and the boat was too far gone before the skipper notice. He put out the mayday, got everyone in PFD's and in the water, waited for it to roll on its back and then got everyone in the tunnel to help came along.

Sounds to me like the marine surveyor is going to be neck deep in the @#$ over this. That said, I am surprised it got that bad without someone noticing sooner.

Has SNAPPERCOFFIN got any conflicting or better details than this?

Gee morphias, I was going to give you a bollocking for posting facts on Ausfish, but then on closer inspection you did start your post with the right word; "Apparently" ......

Okay, back to the speculation .......

[Captain Seaweed]

Aparently...upon further investigation they discovered for a split second the North and South poles had inverted causing a momentarily loss of understanding between hull and sky. They didnt want to freak anyone out early considering the end of the world is coming in a few weeks according to the Incas....Apparently they think so.


BTW PUI

Cheers
Marty

[thelump]

You guys are all off your collective heads. What happened was they were out fishing when a boat passed them by and the skipper yelled "look there is a guy on that boat that once played for NSW in a winning State of Origin side"all the punters rushed to one side to see such a rare animal and the rest, my friends, is history.

[HOW BIG?]

Apparently an underfloor kill tank void that should have been foam fill and water tight sealed. It became unsealed, filled with water throughout the day and the boat was too far gone before the skipper notice. He put out the mayday, got everyone in PFD's and in the water, waited for it to roll on its back and then got everyone in the tunnel to help came along.

Sounds to me like the marine surveyor is going to be neck deep in the @#$ over this. That said, I am surprised it got that bad without someone noticing sooner.

Has SNAPPERCOFFIN got any conflicting or better details than this?

Could one of these also be called a 'Snappercoffin' by any chance?
It'd kind of explain why he's so defensive about it all given the fact it seems it was actually him that was the cause.:P

[cobiaman]

You guys are all off your collective heads. What happened was they were out fishing when a boat passed them by and the skipper yelled "look there is a guy on that boat that once played for NSW in a winning State of Origin side"all the punters rushed to one side to see such a rare animal and the rest, my friends, is history.

More like " there's an actual qlder that plays for qld..."

[SNAPPERCOFFIN]

I was not being defensive just putting the story right from first hand knowledge not all the crap some of you might think you know. And no their is no big cover up and their wasn't a second shooter is the grassy knoll. And How Big does not refer to IQ obviously. Also why would you fill a kill tank with foam wouldn't get much fish in it so it would have to been a void in the boat that was filled with foam but a loose breather pipe had spilt fuel into it over time eating the foam away and the water filled this void as for the water getting in was not found where as the boat was towed in upside down for 9 miles and the cabin was ripped off some where along the way in the final report. No one has been charged or fined or will be. So this is all I know you guys can go off and make up whatever you like as per 80% of the posts on Ausfish.

[cormorant]

Survey foam being eaten by fuel- that shouldn't be possible ? How old was boat and what was the boat as it won't be a one off unless the fish box was put in after production a or a floor storage made into a fishbox. ?.

Goodluck to them with insurance company and hope they get it sorted. .

[Horse]

I think the leaking fuel is a bit of a cover up. I heard they put a Giant Flying Octopus into the kill tank. It tried to take off and the rest is history

[Jarrah Jack]

I thought the kill tank was for dead etec's and they tried to put another one in but it resurrected for a minute and did the damage. Strangly it was the same length of time it originally lasted.

[shane450]

I was not being defensive just putting the story right from first hand knowledge not all the crap some of you might think you know. And no their is no big cover up and their wasn't a second shooter is the grassy knoll. And How Big does not refer to IQ obviously. Also why would you fill a kill tank with foam wouldn't get much fish in it so it would have to been a void in the boat that was filled with foam but a loose breather pipe had spilt fuel into it over time eating the foam away and the water filled this void as for the water getting in was not found where as the boat was towed in upside down for 9 miles and the cabin was ripped off some where along the way in the final report. No one has been charged or fined or will be. So this is all I know you guys can go off and make up whatever you like as per 80% of the posts on Ausfish.

LOL no not defensive at all .....

[Qlder1]

There was another boat a few years ago that sank after being called "unsinkable" so my guess is they probly also hit a iceberg ;D

[snapperdan]

carghhh

ye be all wrong.

Twas pirates i say, Pirates that took that hull to davy jones locker.

[Almako]

I hope all of the dudes don't lose their confidence to get back out there again.
Pretty scary stuff I reckon.

[Crunchy]

"...........whoops, beaten to it......

[Muddy Toes]

"...........whoops, beaten to it......


Great minds........8-)