Proud to support Marine Rescue NSW
BERTH YOUR BOAT on the HAWKESBURY
• 88 berths with power and water • 23 swing moorings (free dinghy storage) • Boom gate access to car park • Toilets and showers • Slipway to 15 tonnes • Convenience store (Brooklyn Central) • Unleaded fuel on wharf for marina clients • Mechanic on site
SANDBROOK INLET MARINA Brooklyn 9985 5500
62 MARINE RESCUE NSW | SOUNDINGS
MAKING HISTORY Hunter/Central Coast
Terrigal neighbours now a single team
Deane Scadding (left) and members of Terrigal Sea Rescue on the balcony of their base at The Haven.
T
wo neighbouring marine rescue services that served the Terrigal boating community are now part of a single, strong MRNSW unit. The MR Central Coast and Terrigal units merged in 2017. A Terrigal marine radio service was first operated by Eddie Felton, supported by the Broken Bay Coastal Patrol, in a base at The Haven. In the mid-1970s, the Central Coast RVCP took over the lease and after refurbishing the base, started operations in January 1977. About 3am on July 26, 1996, the facility was severely damaged by a fire. Gosford Mayor Chris Holstein opened the rebuilt base in January 1998. While the RVCP was providing a marine radio watch over local boaters, rescue services were operated by Terrigal Sea Rescue, established by Col Trounce, Kenn Borgesson, Phil Christie and Graeme Legge in the early 1990s. The Sea Rescue operated next door to the RVCP. Former MR Terrigal Unit Commander Deane Scadding, who joined TSR in 1996, said the organisation had originally been affiliated with the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association. “We remained affiliated with the Coast Guard right up until they started pressuring us to become a Coast Guard flotilla,” Mr Scadding
said. “Then we heard our friends at Norah Head Search and Rescue were becoming affiliated with the VRA so we changed course and became affiliated with the VRA around 2007. “We were right next to the RVCP. The deal was they ran the radios and we ran the boats. It worked well for a number of years.” TSR initially operated with an inflatable rubber boat and an 8.4m Hydrofield multi-hull, Sea Lion, followed by an 8.9m Hydrofield, Mary George. The boat was named after member George Robertson and his wife Mary. When George was given weeks to live, Mary collapsed. Although she recovered, George subsequently passed away. Their family attended the launch of the vessel named after the couple. “What we didn’t know was that George was there, too,” Mr Scadding said. After the service, TSR members took the Robertson family on board the new vessel to farewell the former police officer by scattering his ashes at sea. After both the Central Coast and Terrigal operations joined MRNSW, the Central Coast unit continued to monitor radio traffic to MR Terrigal. Following the unit merger, Central Coast 30 is now berthed at The Haven. Last year, the unit won a $161,000 grant for an amphibious tender to access the vessel.