St Helens Marine Rescue – Serving the north and east coast of Tasmania and Bass Strait

St Helens Marine Rescue to the Rescue after dark Thursday January 30th. Rodney, JD and Ken launched RV Georges Bay at Burns Bay on their way to an emergency at The Gardens in the Bay of Fires. A yacht had lost its mast and had rigging tangled around the prop. At 2125 hours they passed Elephant Rock in 2 – 3 metre seas powered by 30 knot SE winds.
At 2200 hours they rendezvoused with the yacht 2 nautical miles north of The Gardens and 1 nautical mile out to sea after requesting those on board to anchor in 40 metre water and set off a flare.
The occupants on the yacht abandoned ship via a rubber dinghy where the crew of RV Georges Bay took them on board. Both crew members were cold & wet. Once on board they were stowed in the forward cabin wrapped in woollen blankets.
At 2310 hours RV Georges Bay returned to Burns Bay where TasPol took the yacht crew to warm and secure accommodation in St Helens.
The crew of RV Georges Bay eventually signed off at 0100 hours and retired home for a well earned rest.

Journey from Burns Bay to the Gardens in The Bay of Fires

Marine Rescue crew aboard stranded yacht

Tagged with: Bay of Fires, St Helens Marine Rescue Association, Stranded yacht

AMSA SMS Workshop

Posted on 25 September 2019 by John Sullivan Posted in Uncategorized

All commercial operators in the North east are invited to the AMSA Safety Management System (SMS) Workshop commencing at 10:00 am on the 5th of November.

Please find attached a flyer for the upcoming Safety Management System workshops in Tasmania.

I encourage you to come along to learn about your SMS obligations and how to improve the safety of your operation.

To date, AMSA has taken a more educative approach to safety management system (SMS) compliance but is now issuing deficiencies and compliance notices where operators do not have an SMS, or their SMS does not meet AMSA’s requirements.

Common issues that our Marine Inspectors come across include:

· lack of, or poor risk assessments,

· operators not following their SMS,

· lack of evidence of crew training and induction,

· lack of regular SMS review,

· and even a lack of SMS altogether (you can expect a Prohibition Notice if this is found for your operation)

These workshops will cover the benefits of having a successful SMS for your operation, how you can improve your SMS, as well as what AMSA looks for when checking your SMS. Whilst the workshops focus more on Class 3 operators, all operators and crew are welcome. If you have someone such as a partner or friend who helps you with your SMS please encourage them to attend also.

Go to www.amsa.gov.au/sms-workshops-registration to register your interest to attend a workshop or ring AMSA Connect 1800 627 484.

2019 AGM

Posted on 10 September 2019 by John Sullivan Posted in Uncategorized

Members of St Helens Marine Rescue and partners are invited to attend the 2019 Annual General Meeting Sunday the 22nd of September commencing at 11:00 am.

Business: President’s Report, Financial Report, Operations Report, Election of Office Bearers, Appointment of Auditor, Appointment of Publicity Officer.

The meeting will be followed by a sausage sizzle and celebration cuppa.