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Skipper Thelma reporting

Saturday began early for a few of us, doing maintenance turning into training.

We received a tasking to a launch with anchor chain problems, near Fairchild reef.

The chain was tangled in the pipe, so the anchor could go neither up or down and the vessel was drifting towards the reef.  Sea conditions were good (for now), so we were soon alongside and Andrew and Craig quickly had the problem sorted. Two very happy Coastguard members.

Next was a return to the Matakana River. A previously spotted a large log that would pose a few problems (should a boat encounter it at night) awaited us. The log was captured and then barged to a landing point to be moved later.

Shortly thereafter, 1845, there's the dreaded "skipper phone Ops" call, followed by an Urgent callout. This was to a small boat, found anchored east of Kawau, near Nelson Rock, with no one on it.

Crew 3 were quickly underway and making good speed across Kawau Bay, in a 1.5m chop, when one of our crew took a hard landing after a wave which badly injured his ankle.

We slowed down to apply first aid then shortly afterwards were advised by Ops that the people on the boat had been accounted for and they were safe ashore... just one more thing... could we still retrieve the boat?

So after a bit of discussion, our injured crew member said he could keep going as a passenger - (but maybe not a very happy one), and we continued at a more sedate pace.

We found a 5m open runabout, anchored in 2+m seas. Glenn demonstrated his prowess with the kicker hook pole and steady helming from Andrew enabled us to catch the anchor warp. With a large carabiner on the tow rope, we played the line out until we figured the carabiner was either on the chain or anchor, and we towed away. The boat then followed us (slowly) back to Sandspit, where its relieved owners were waiting at the wharf.

The motor had broken down earlier in the day and although they had friends nearby in another boat, who took them to shore, conditions were too rough for them to tow the stricken boat back. It was a wise decision to return in this other boat, given waves were coming over the windscreen.

So the people were safe, however the boat had remained - OK but unattended. It would have saved a lot of angst if Coastguard had been advised of this earlier.

A great reminder to Log in and Log out - use the Coastguard app. And advise the Coastguard if you are ok but your empty boat might worry others.