Slow ahead: The Safety Beach Coast Guard tows the stricken boat back to calmer waters out from the Rosebud Motor Boat Squadron, above; the rescued fisherman was hooked by his own line, top left, while his boat was left to sink off Rosebud with a marker buoy attached. Pictures: Supplied
SHARP eyes at Rosebud Motor Boat Squadron helped save the life of a fisherman whose boat sank in rough seas last week.
Member Mitch Delic saw the boat being swamped and raised the alarm with the Safety Beach Coast Guard and police before heading out himself, Wednesday 6 March.
Gale-force winds had whipped up heavy seas causing the 4.5-metre fibreglass boat to overturn about 4pm.
The fisherman, who was alone, was taken aboard by the coast guard crew – but not before his fishing line wrapped around his leg and the hook embedded itself in his calf.
The Rosebud squadron’s commodore Michael Hibbert, said Mr Delic tied a buoy to the bow of the boat as a marker after the coast guard towed it closer to shore. Mr Hibbert said he planned to refloat the boat early Friday 8 March.
The fisherman was given the all clear by paramedics at the Rosebud pier.
Coast guard spokesman John Armsden said the boatie was “cold, wet and shaken”. He urged boaters to check on weather conditions before heading out.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 12 March 2019
