On Sunday 11 October 2015, Marine Rescue Middle Harbour received a call from a 42′ Jeaneau yacht which was anchored off Sailors Bay in Middle Harbour. The owner advised that he thought that the anchor windlass motor had burnt out and he couldn’t raise the anchor. Middle Harbour 30 attended, rafted up and with the owner’s permission put two of our ‘burliest seamen’ on board to see if they could manually recover the anchor. Meanwhile, mother and daughters, Tatanya, Summer and Katya who were quite concerned that they might have to stay overnight, were reassured by the skipper and senior crew members of Middle Harbour 30 that all would be OK; the kids then started to see the event as an ‘adventure’!
With all the slack in the anchor line recovered, a third crew member was sent to assist the long haul of the remaining line and chain and shortly afterward, the anchor was recovered, line stowed, and a generous donation received from a very grateful and relieved family. On the way back, we phoned the yacht to advise them that the next Spit Bridge opening time was 1830, so they proceeded to a public mooring to wait for their exit from Middle Harbour, en-route to Middle Harbour Yacht Club.
Images of family published with permission from their mother.