Summer by the numbers

Summer by the numbers

Making our members’ efforts ‘count’

During each rescue mission, Marine Rescue NSW crew and radio operators collect information including the location, type and size of the vessel, the skipper’s level of experience, the cause of the activation, how many people were on board, any injuries, and the activity the vessel was engaged in.

Over the 1 October to ANZAC Day boating season, Marine Rescue NSW crews undertook 2,800 rescue missions, of which 745 were significant (reportable) incidents, with crews bringing safely to shore 5,702 adults, 664 children, and 67 pets.

These figures keep Marine Rescue NSW on track to match or exceed the record number of rescues in the previous 2020-21 season despite the wettest ever start to a calendar year, and the effects of lingering COVID restrictions.

As expected, boat maintenance and planning issues remained the primary causes of rescue, with engine failure accounting for 40.8%, a flat battery 10.0%, and running out of fuel 8.7%.

Groundings accounted for 6.7% of rescues, along with capsizes 3.8%, searches for missing persons 1.8%, and medical emergencies 0.6%.

These figures suggest that if boaters regularly serviced their vessel and paid greater attention to fuel and navigation, a significant reduction in incidents could be achieved, with this information providing vital data for future boater education campaigns.

Before making a call for help, vessels were either fishing 42%, cruising 42%, sailing 10.6%, paddling in a canoe or kayak 3.7% or crossing a coastal bar 1.3%; with vessels most likely to be an open runabout, cabin runabout, motor cruiser or sail mono-hull.

Contrary to expectation, experienced and older boaters were

The sun sets on another boating season. Photo: Lake Macquarie sunset, courtesy Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie.

just as likely to be rescued as those with less experience, with 70% of rescues being boaters aged 35 and over, and with ‘very experienced’ and ‘experienced’ boaters making up a whopping 61.5% of the skippers rescued. This suggests that more experienced boaters may be more likely to over-estimate their ability and to take unnecessary risks, with this observation providing a further focus for future boating education campaigns.

The busiest Marine Rescue NSW unit was Lake Macquarie with 414 rescues, followed closely by the State Communications Centre who helped coordinate 408 rescues. Notable were Botany Port Hacking 220, Port Stephens 167, Middle Harbour 143, and Central Coast and Port Jackson tying on 119 apiece.

Over the boating season there were 41,730 boats who Logged On with Marine Rescue NSW, carrying over 140,000 people.

This and other information collected is compared with data from earlier periods to enable long term trends to be identified and evaluated, and for management strategies to be developed, particularly in relation to boater education campaigns and resource allocation.