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“YOUR boat is on the beach” was not what Liz Sutterby was expecting to hear when she answered a call shortly before noon on Saturday.
It was police advising Mrs Sutterby that her and husband John’s 45-foot luxury catamaran had broken its moorings and was washed up on Shoal Bay Beach.
The vessel was one of four that broke its moorings off Port Stephens beaches during the east coast low that hit the region on the weekend.
The Sutterby’s cameraman, called Shimmi, and a 40-foot ketch, named Carradale, washed up on Shoal Bay Beach on Saturday between 10.30am and 11.20am.
An excavator was brought in on Saturday afternoon to pull Shimmi onto the beach further and anchor it so it would not float away in the king tide.
On receiving the call on Saturday morning, the Sutterby’s got in their car and drove to the Bay from Victoria to see the damage.
Due to Sunday’s poor weather conditions, nothing could be done to remove Shimmi from the beach.
The catermeran, which the Sutterby’s had only owned for about one year, was further damaged by ferocious waves on Sunday.
Rough seas punched a hole in the left hull, water washed out the interior and other equipment that had been on the vessel, including a solar panel, was torn off away.
“It could have been a lot worse,” Mrs Sutterby said on Monday, when the weather was more favourable for assessing the damage to Shimmi.
“There was no loss of life.”
A third vessel, a motor cruiser, broke its moorings on Sunday and was also washed up on to Shoal Bay Beach.
However, the powerful waves broke the vessel apart and it sunk about 60 metres from shore.
On Monday, only the mast was visible from where it lay on the bottom of the ocean floor.
Another motor cruiser was washed up at Wanda Beach near Salamander Bay on Sunday.
Damage to boats, including the historic Sygna off Stockton Beach which was swallowed by the sea on the weekend, appeared to be the worst to happen in Port Stephens from the east coast low weather event.
The beach-bound boats were a post-storm attraction on Monday.
