Bundaberg Sailors Abandon Yacht after Sea Accident

A full-scale rescue in international waters was not what Bundaberg's Ann and Chris Robinson expected when they set off on a sailing trip last week.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) was alerted to the couple in trouble on Tuesday when a distress signal was detected in AMSA's Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Canberra shortly after 9am.

The couple, on yacht Illusion, were drifting in international waters 390 nautical miles due east of Bundaberg. They experienced trouble after the man sustained serious injuries to his lower leg on board the boat.

AMSA on-call media officer Mick Spinks it would have been a frightening ordeal for the couple. 'The woman having to care for her husband and not being able to sail the yacht alone would have been terribly scary,' Mr Spinks said.
A search and rescue Dornier aircraft, based in Cairns, was dispatched to the location.

The crew of the Dornier established communications with the couple on the yacht and maintained a watch while staff at the Rescue Co-ordination Centre diverted two merchant vessels, a bulk carrier and a vehicle carrier, to attend the yacht and help with the rescue.

The vessels arrived at the location during the night, but due to sea conditions and in the interests of safety, waited until yesterday morning before attempting to come alongside the yacht.

A Military P3 Orion and a Customs Coastwatch aircraft assisted the Dornier in maintaining an overhead watch of the vessel during the night and stayed above while the couple were safely taken aboard the rescue ship.

The couple moved onto the bulk carrier Dayahai about 11am yesterday. The Dayahai, which was on course to the United States, has now been diverted to Noumea where the couple will be dropped off to make arrangements to return to Australia.

Mr Spinks said it was fortunate the couple had taken a 406MHZ beacon with them which gives a 5km search area as opposed to 25km search area with other beacons.

However glad the couple were to be rescued, the compulsory abandonment of the yacht would have been a tragedy for the Robinsons, who were planning a world cruise, according to their son, Dylan.

The chance of recovering the yacht, which was left drifting in the Coral Sea away from Australia, is remote.

The Bargara couple, in their 50s, had been sailing to New Caledonia when they hit wild weather and were battered by 50 to 70-knot winds last week.

Mr Robinson's seriously injured his leg when it got tangled in a line when he threw out a sea anchor to stabilise the boat, and his wife had to cut him free and pull him to safety.

Friend Garry Dick, a Bundaberg Volunteer Marine Rescue member, said Mr Robinson told him he had been hanging upside down over the side.

'He was close to going overboard,' Mr Dick said.

Mrs Robinson, a trained nurse who heads Bundaberg Base Hospital's neonatal unit, set off the distress signal and rescuers from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority found them within six hours of Tuesday's incident.

The couple had set off from Bundaberg last weekend, planning to spend several months sailing around New Caledonia and Vanuatu before returning in October with a rally of boats.

Maritime lawyer Michael Fisher, of Thynne and McCartney, said anyone who found the yacht in international waters and towed it to a port could claim a salvage award from the owners - a percentage of the boat's value - for their recovery effort.