Kokoko to the rescue too

Good weather Thursday and Friday so callouts really weren’t so unexpected. But, after having been out for some training on Saturday morning and then torrential rain and 35 knot Easterly winds having moved in during the afternoon, you don’t really expect a callout at 1750 just as you are wanting to eat dinner….

An Urgent call out, so dropped everything ll and headed down to the boat. Several volunteers were already there and many people had responded. We had more than enough volunteers so we were able to phone some to say we were away. (Sunsequently one person got caught up in an event outside Matakana, which had caused a traffic hold up.)

The callout was to a yacht off Cape Rodney that had broken its boom. They issued a Pan Pan which is one radio alert down from a Mayday. Ops also launched Kokoko Rescue, the rescue vessel from Mangawhai. The seas were rough in the bay and only became rougher with an Easterly wind and outgoing tide at Māori Rock. Once through there we had a beam sea, 3-4 m, across Omaha Bay. Craig (on the helm) went more offshore and then we were able to come back down to Cape Rodney with a slightly better face to the easterly swell. Still rough but it meant we could get a slightly better speed.

Long story short we took 2 hours to get to the Yacht. We were expecting to arrive first, but the yacht managed to jury rig a headsail and start to run North towards Kokoko Rescue. The Ops centre kept us both updated on the yachts position and Kokoko rescue met them around 10 mins before us.

Just before we arrived the yacht was also able to get the engine started (it hadn’t started earlier). We stood off and it was decided that Kokoko rescue would escort the yacht slowly up to Whangarei - they got there at around 2330, doing around 6 to7 knots. We returned to Sandspit after another rough ride on the way back for around 2230.

Great job by the yacht to rig up a sail system without the boom and from Kokoko R who are slightly smaller than us and managed to first provide a presence and then give moral support to get the yacht to a safe port.

Did both Rescue boats need to attend? Certainly the situation could have been a lot worse with boats on a lee shore with no sail or engine . When we left Sandspit no-one knew the yacht would recover so well, also it was over 90 mins after the callout before that happened. In addition, from a safety point of view, with two boats going there is a better chance of one getting there in time.

Thanks to Airberth Al for lowering the boat, Craig for a masterful demonstration of rough weather handling, Rob on radios and navigation with Glenn and Luke who enjoyed the ride and were lucky not to have to run the back (very wet) deck.