Over the past couple of weeks I've done quite a few shifts with the Coastguard, mainly on the vessels. It has been noted by several of the crews that I attract trouble, and I guess that's probably why I keep getting invited back! One of the guys even commented that he'd had more jobs in the day that I had been on the boat, than he's had in the whole of this winter combined.
Last weekend I went out on Lion Foundation Rescue, the mid-sized vessel in the Auckland fleet. It's like a small house really; it has a toilet, kitchen, shower, dining area, and room to sleep 4 people. I spent Saturday night (I didn't start my shift until 1800) watching movies and eating a delicious roast lamb dinner, all whilst bobbing around in the middle of the ocean. I must admit though, we had a bit of a rude awakening in the night when the wind and the swells picked up, but it wasn't too bad, and soon calmed down again.
The following day, we had a few jobs, nothing particularly exciting. It's most often breakdowns that we get called to, where people will require either a jump-start or a tow back to the marina. The weather was pretty awful, so everyone was surprised that we got a total of 4 jobs - 2 flat batteries, 1 out of fuel, and one gearbox failure. We managed to jump-start the two batteries and had to tow the other two vessels back home. To be honest the best parts of the shift were the roast and the scenery, the jobs were pretty routine.
This Saturday I went out on Trillian Rescue Alpha, the smallest rescue vessel in the fleet. What it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in speed. I think that's why a lot of the younger volunteers enjoy crewing on Alpha the most! The weather this weekend was phenomenal, which meant the very first thing we did was take the boat to the Viaduct Harbour and have breakfast outside on the deck. I even had to dig out the sun cream! It's hard to believe we're in the deepest depths of winter at the moment.
Not long after we'd finished breakfast we had our first call. It was to someone that had fallen on their boat and dislocated their shoulder. Not very pleasant, but after some pain relief, we managed to get them off their boat and to the waiting ambulance. We then met up with some of the other boats and did a bit of training, but it wasn't long before we were interrupted. We were called to tow a boat that was having engine issues, but unfortunately had no idea where they were. It's amazing how many people go out on a boat with no charts, radio, or any form of navigation equipment! We looked for them for a while, but by the time we had worked out where they actually were, we had been called to another job. This time the vessel had run out of fuel - but at least they knew exactly where they were! We decided that it may be possible to tow the boat that had no fuel, and then pick up the one with engine problems on the way back. It worked quite well actually, and apparently has only been done a handful of times. The proud skipper already has the pictures up on Facebook!!
The people on the green boat had huge grins on their faces the entire way back. The comment was made that it was probably the fastest that boat had ever been!
After all our jobs, we did a bit of navigation training. I was allowed to drive the boat, and was directed to a marker in the middle of the Hauraki Gulf called Rough Rock. By this time it was getting dark, but there was still time for me to have a photo taken on the marker. I don't think that many people can claim that they have stood on Rough Rock, let alone had their photo taken on it!
After my adventure on Rough Rock, I got back on the boat (yes luckily they came back to get me), and we went to refuel. Once back at the base, we had a couple of beers in the crew room, and then went home. All in all, a successful day on the water!
No comments:
Post a Comment