It was an eventful weekend for Marine Rescue Lemon Tree Passage volunteers who completed a six-hour rescue yesterday.
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The volunteers assisted a boater whose vessel suffered engine failure on Two Mile Lake in the Myall Lakes National Park.
Marine Rescue Lemon Tree Passage unit commander David Aselford said just before 11am on Sunday, March 3, volunteers received a call for assistance from a skipper with two teenagers on board his seven-metre ski boat.
"After a long and slow trip up the very shallow and windy Myall River, the Marine Rescue NSW crew arrived and towed the vessel all the way through to the southern end of Myall Lake which is quite torturous through an S-bend turn and very shallow waters," he said.
Commander Aselford said the male skipper of the disabled vessel and the teenagers were very grateful for the assistance provided by the volunteer crew.
"Yesterday's mission was about a 60 nautical mile (approximately 120 kilometres) round trip, which took about six hours to complete," he said.
It was only two weeks ago that the Marine Rescue Lemon Tree Passage unit had to go further north into Myall Lake to rescue a vessel and tow it all the way back to Lemon Tree Passage.
"This trip was in excess of eight hours because of the very slow return path trying to tow a large vessel around the bends in the Myall River," commander Aselford said.
The Marine Rescue Lemon Tree Passage unit covers an area of more than 1,000 square kilometres and is reminding boaters of the importance of Logging On with Marine Rescue NSW.
"Logging On via the free Marine Rescue app or VHF channel 16 ensures our volunteers can keep watch over a boater's safe return," commander Aselford said.
"When a boater doesn't return from their trip as planned we begin trying to locate them immediately."
