This isn’t really my story, but it is my
perspective…
On Monday we were anchored at Long Beach on Great Keppel Island
when we checked the forecast and found the winds would be swinging around to
the south so we decided to up anchor and head for the Svendsens Beach on the
north of the island.
We left with Pete (Stardust) and took the long way
around the island as it was better winds for sailing. Stardust does not currently have a
functioning motor so the wind is important to him. We went up the east side of the island no
problem but turning to the north brought us to a dead stop as we were nose on
to the wind. No problem for us… turn on
the motor and use the steel sail to get to our destination. Pete kept heading east trying to get as far
as he could before tacking into the wind and it wasn’t long before he was out
of sight.
About an 1½ hours after we anchored we were
starting to worry about Pete. I tried
him on the radio but go no answer. I
didn’t have his phone number so sent him a facebook message asking him to call
me. The phone reception where we were
was pretty shitty so when Pete called, it went straight to voicemail. I ended up with the garbled message… “mishap… bottom coral… rocks… rough swell…
okay”.
What the hell?
I tried the radio and managed to get a crackled message to Pete to
change to channel 72. 72 proved to be
much friendlier and Pete explained that he’d had a bit of a problem with the
wind, scraped his bottom on the coral, used his dinghy to move Stardust in to
wreck beach to anchor and was swamped by the swell. He was now anchored at Wreck Beach. He was okay.
Phew!!!
On Tuesday morning at 8.00am, Pete called us to say
he wasn’t happy with his position, had pulled up his anchor and tried using his
dinghy to move further away from the rocks but the swell and the strength of
the tide was too much and he was now on the rocks.
Stardust at low tide
photo provided by Pete
We kept in contact throughout the course of the day
and one of the island locals was going to see him at low tide to help prepare
for a VMR rescue attempt at high tide. I
rallied the troops from the yachts around us so Michael and 3 other guys went
round there in a nasty swell to lend a hand any way they could.
The Troops
Photo courtesy of Lyndie Malan
The boys worked hard and pulled the anchor up by
hand and the VMR towed Stardust back to the little creek off Leeks Beach. Stardust was taking on water and this new
position would dry out completely so repairs could take place.
Pulling the anchor up by hand
Photo courtesy of Lyndie Malan
The VMR (and this time they're not towing us)
Photo courtesy of Lyndie Malan
On Wednesday during the low tide, Michael headed
round to Pete’s new resting place and helped patch the leaks in Stardust. Now they just had to wait for the water to
rise to determine the success of the venture.
The wind was coming from the north again and we
were in an uncomfortable swell so headed back down to Resort Beach (yes, there’s
a bloody lot of beaches on Great Keppel Island) for some respite. We were no longer anywhere near Pete so were
hoping the repairs would hold up.
At high tide we got the word from Pete that the
water was not coming in. Wooo
hoooo!
That was not the end of it though. This morning Michael had to dinghy around to
Pete, and again the swell was being less than friendly, to go back to Wreck
Beach to retrieve Pete’s dinghies. The
water was rough so rather than risk bringing both, they only towed one dinghy back. It had been swamped and the engine was no
longer working.
Michael got back to Kidnapped, wet, sore and
demanding coffee. It has been a tough
couple of days for everyone involved… but particularly for Pete and he could
probably use that fancy cocktail!
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