Boat Builder Saved After Hitting Trouble
Newcastle Herald
Saturday February 1, 2003
LAKE Macquarie boat builder Graham McCloy has survived a boating accident and salvaged his million-dollar fishing vessel Inkwazi.
Mr McCloy, 49, and crew member Adam Brodbeck, 18, were rescued by helicopter late on Thursday night, 10 nautical miles north of Seal Rocks.
The $1.2 million 14-metre sports fishing vessel had hit something in the water at cruising speed while heading towards Port Stephens.
Both men escaped injury but had spent two hours in a liferaft on rough sea in 25- to 30-knot north-easterly wind.
"The ocean has all sorts of tricks up its sleeve," Mr McCloy said. "It wasn't much fun. I wouldn't like to go through that again."
Inkwazi, which Mr McCloy has had for five years, was kept intact by flotation chambers but the engine room filled in four minutes.
Mr McCloy, who builds Blackwatch boats on the Gold Coast, said Inkwazi had hit an object, which he believed was a shipping container because of the extent of damage.
He was astounded Inkwazi was still partly afloat yesterday before it was recovered by the Port Stephens water police.
The mariner thanked rescuers, including the Hunter Westpac helicopter service, which found the two, and the RAAF Sikorski helicopter crew who saved them.
© 2003 Newcastle Herald
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