*Four people have been rescued overnight from a liferaft off Puysegur Point in Southern Fiordland after their pleasure craft hit a reef. * Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) Mission Controller, Tracy Brickles, said an emergency locator beacon alert was received at 10pm. "After satellite confirmation that the alert was genuine, we immediately despatched a helicopter from Southern Lakes Helicopters in Te Anau to track down the beacon, and found the liferaft with four people on board at around 12.20 am" Brickles said. "Because of two metre sea swells in the area, the helicopter was unable to winch the four people to safety. "A fishing vessel from Preservation Inlet in Fiordland, the Abrollis, responded to our request for a vessel to rescue those on board the liferaft." She said the Abrollis reached the liferaft, with the Southern Lakes helicopter pointing the way overhead, at around 1.30am. It successfully picked up the four people on board and has taken them back to Weka Island in Preservation Inlet. Brickles said that the four are all in good spirits and have not sustained any injuries. They are to be picked up tomorrow morning by helicopter and taken to Invercargill. It is understood that the four survivors took to their liferaft when their vessel, the Solander, hit a reef in the area and quickly sank. The Solander is a recreational vessel, although previously it was a commercial fishing boat. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
The boat involved was Solander: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4031885a6011.html Things can quickly change from perfect, to horror, if you depend on your electronics for navigation, and there is no back up system, and if the crew is unused in using the back-up system. Here the GPS failed as darkness approached, and they didn't handle map and compass very well, driving around in circles in what could be called a rock garden :-(! So keep your manual navigation skills up! Tord *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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