The Port Fairy Marine Rescue Service
The beginning:
The Port Fairy Marine Rescue Service was formed in 2007, born form an idea conceived by a group of mates over a few beers. They were concerned that rescue of disabled fishermen was being carried out by private individuals at their own cost and putting themselves and their vessels at risk to perform what should be the responsibility of emergency services.
The group, Russell Williams, Craig Lovell (deceased) and Mick Wolfe saw the need for a rescue vessel equipped to perform search and rescue, manned by volunteers trained in rescue procedures, insured against risk and able to take on the task of sea rescue.
Getting off the ground:
Interested persons were contacted and meetings arranged to set up what is now the Port Fairy Marine Rescue Service. The organization started with no money and no rescue vessel and quickly set out to raise money to finance the group.
We looked at other services operating in Victoria to gain knowledge from their operations, on the best way to set up a rescue group in Port Fairy. We contacted Coast Guard to find out about their group and invited a representative to our meetings to explain how they work.
We also spoke to other groups who were operating independently as well as rescue groups in other states. Each had their merit and all ideas went into the mix to decide on how we would structure the Port fairy Marine Rescue Service.
Establishing our identity:
The two options available to us in Victoria were to join Coast Guard or form an independent group. The idea of joining Coast Guard did not appeal to us and we made a decision to form an independent group and affiliate with Surf Life Saving Victoria.
By doing so we could focus on training and discipline more suited to our needs and control over our funding and assets.
W formed an affiliation with Surf Life Saving Victoria which overcame some of the administration issues and gave us identity in the emergency services structure.
Forming an independent rescue service had some advantage as we were controlling our finances and did not have to rely on funding being distributed from a centralised headquarters as would have been the case if we had joined Coast Guard. A disadvantage of that decision is that members have to work harder canvassing donations and seeking funding grants to keep the service well maintained and operational.
Raising money:
Raising money to keep the service operational is an added burden to members who primarily volunteered to help in rescue work.
A lot of our members are also volunteers to other community services and so we are thankful for the time they have to serve as crew on the rescue boat and mindful that their time is limited.
We were able to raise the funds to purchase a rescue boat within the first year of our formation mostly through the effort of Craig Lovell whom was the driving force behind raising funds to establish our service.
Craig worked hard seeking grants and donations with the majority of funds raised through grants from Port fairy Folk Festival and State Government.
The amount raised in that initial period resulted in the purchase of our 6.5 metre Stabicraft vessel “Capt. John Mills”, which we have at present.
After acquiring the rescue boat Craig set out to find funds to purchase a headquarters for the vessel storage and as a command centre for the marine rescue service. Further funding was raised in the next year and the headquarters construction started.
Craig did this while battling serious illness which took his life in 2012. In honour of Craig’s work in establishing the service, marine rescue established an honour plaque in his name. Annually a member is honoured for their commitment to the service placing their name on the memorial board in recognition.
Established service:
Port Fairy Marine Rescue started with a total of 10 members, mostly from the commercial fishing industry and other emergency services. Since then we have recruited other community volunteers to peak at 28 members.
Each month a crew roster is drafted allocating 2 coxswains, 5 deck crew, a duty officer and a radio operator.
A call for assistance can come in many ways, phone, radio and contact from Police. In all cases we must notify Water Police of the incident before committing to the rescue, alerting crew to the job who launch the rescue boat and make the vessel ready.
In most cases from notification to launch is about 15- 20 minutes and while the crew are preparing the boat for launch, the duty officer and radio operator are plotting the location of the incident and making radio contact with the distressed vessel.
The duty places high demand on members and in the recent search for the “Mary S”, we rotated 4 boat crews over the two days of our involvement.
We are constantly looking for new members and if you are interested in joining and serving in a vital emergency rescue service, we have a training day the first Sunday of each month at our headquarters in Griffiths St, between the yacht club and the slip. interested persons are most welcome to come and have a look at our setup and talk to members.
Since 2007 we have performed 40 rescues at sea, worked as a safety boat for swimming events, a pilot boat assisting vessels into the port at night and through our communications base, made over 300 radio calls per year assisting vessels working or visiting the area with weather reports, safety logs and safety alerts.
In 2013 – 2014 we put in over 30 hours of sea time performing search and rescue with our last call requiring 4 crew changes to complete the duty. On top of operational time we put in countless hours doing training, equipment maintenance and radio watch.
We have established our group as a competent rescue service operating under the control of the Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra (RCC) and Victorian Water Police.
Our future:
Our present vessel Capt John Mills has served us well and is a superb vessel for working in close. It has speed and agility to work in close to reefs and rocks but because of the semi open cab, is restricted by survey to operating within 15 nautical miles (30 kilometres) from shore.
Its limitations came to the fore in the recent search for the MaryS which was finally found adrift 20 nautical miles (40 kilometres) south of Port Fairy.
We were tasked by RCC to join Coast Guard and Water Police to search grids in the search zone but our limitation restricted us to within the 15NM limit. Our smaller vessel working in rough seas puts great stress on the boat and crew making our job harder in those conditions.
Rarely are we asked to go to a rescue in ideal conditions. It is mostly in rough weather and often at night requiring a high degree of skill and seamanship to complete the task successfully.
The short coming of the vessel in these circumstances has moved us to look toward seeking another vessel, larger and capable of going further to sea.
In 2007 the majority of rescues occurred within the limits placed on our boat but in recent times with the increasing interest in Tuna fishing, the vessels going to sea are getting bigger and going further to sea. Our area of responsibility is increasing in size emphasising the need for a larger rescue vessel that can safely service the increased area.
We have embarked on a feasibility study of our future needs and investigated a suitable larger vessel to replace our present 6.5 metre vessel.
To upgrade our service will cost at least $650,000 initially and with a larger vessel, our running and maintenance costs will increase accordingly.
We have embarked on a plan to raise the money from community and Government grants and hope we can reach our target over the next three years.
Possible changes:
The future direction of our rescue service will be subject to the findings of the Parliamentary Inquiry into the marine rescue service in Victoria, the finding due to be tabled in Parliament in August.
It is possible that all services, Coast Guard and independent marine rescue services will be amalgamated into one state organization structured similar to SES and CFA.
It would also be nice to think that some of the burden of financing the rescue service will be taken over by government and that training will be standardised and also financed.
The future will be interesting and we are sure that the Port Fairy Marine Rescue Service will flourish and continue to serve mariners operating in our waters.
The beginning:
The Port Fairy Marine Rescue Service was formed in 2007, born form an idea conceived by a group of mates over a few beers. They were concerned that rescue of disabled fishermen was being carried out by private individuals at their own cost and putting themselves and their vessels at risk to perform what should be the responsibility of emergency services.
The group, Russell Williams, Craig Lovell (deceased) and Mick Wolfe saw the need for a rescue vessel equipped to perform search and rescue, manned by volunteers trained in rescue procedures, insured against risk and able to take on the task of sea rescue.
Getting off the ground:
Interested persons were contacted and meetings arranged to set up what is now the Port Fairy Marine Rescue Service. The organization started with no money and no rescue vessel and quickly set out to raise money to finance the group.
We looked at other services operating in Victoria to gain knowledge from their operations, on the best way to set up a rescue group in Port Fairy. We contacted Coast Guard to find out about their group and invited a representative to our meetings to explain how they work.
We also spoke to other groups who were operating independently as well as rescue groups in other states. Each had their merit and all ideas went into the mix to decide on how we would structure the Port fairy Marine Rescue Service.
Establishing our identity:
The two options available to us in Victoria were to join Coast Guard or form an independent group. The idea of joining Coast Guard did not appeal to us and we made a decision to form an independent group and affiliate with Surf Life Saving Victoria.
By doing so we could focus on training and discipline more suited to our needs and control over our funding and assets.
W formed an affiliation with Surf Life Saving Victoria which overcame some of the administration issues and gave us identity in the emergency services structure.
Forming an independent rescue service had some advantage as we were controlling our finances and did not have to rely on funding being distributed from a centralised headquarters as would have been the case if we had joined Coast Guard. A disadvantage of that decision is that members have to work harder canvassing donations and seeking funding grants to keep the service well maintained and operational.
Raising money:
Raising money to keep the service operational is an added burden to members who primarily volunteered to help in rescue work.
A lot of our members are also volunteers to other community services and so we are thankful for the time they have to serve as crew on the rescue boat and mindful that their time is limited.
We were able to raise the funds to purchase a rescue boat within the first year of our formation mostly through the effort of Craig Lovell whom was the driving force behind raising funds to establish our service.
Craig worked hard seeking grants and donations with the majority of funds raised through grants from Port fairy Folk Festival and State Government.
The amount raised in that initial period resulted in the purchase of our 6.5 metre Stabicraft vessel “Capt. John Mills”, which we have at present.
After acquiring the rescue boat Craig set out to find funds to purchase a headquarters for the vessel storage and as a command centre for the marine rescue service. Further funding was raised in the next year and the headquarters construction started.
Craig did this while battling serious illness which took his life in 2012. In honour of Craig’s work in establishing the service, marine rescue established an honour plaque in his name. Annually a member is honoured for their commitment to the service placing their name on the memorial board in recognition.
Established service:
Port Fairy Marine Rescue started with a total of 10 members, mostly from the commercial fishing industry and other emergency services. Since then we have recruited other community volunteers to peak at 28 members.
Each month a crew roster is drafted allocating 2 coxswains, 5 deck crew, a duty officer and a radio operator.
A call for assistance can come in many ways, phone, radio and contact from Police. In all cases we must notify Water Police of the incident before committing to the rescue, alerting crew to the job who launch the rescue boat and make the vessel ready.
In most cases from notification to launch is about 15- 20 minutes and while the crew are preparing the boat for launch, the duty officer and radio operator are plotting the location of the incident and making radio contact with the distressed vessel.
The duty places high demand on members and in the recent search for the “Mary S”, we rotated 4 boat crews over the two days of our involvement.
We are constantly looking for new members and if you are interested in joining and serving in a vital emergency rescue service, we have a training day the first Sunday of each month at our headquarters in Griffiths St, between the yacht club and the slip. interested persons are most welcome to come and have a look at our setup and talk to members.
Since 2007 we have performed 40 rescues at sea, worked as a safety boat for swimming events, a pilot boat assisting vessels into the port at night and through our communications base, made over 300 radio calls per year assisting vessels working or visiting the area with weather reports, safety logs and safety alerts.
In 2013 – 2014 we put in over 30 hours of sea time performing search and rescue with our last call requiring 4 crew changes to complete the duty. On top of operational time we put in countless hours doing training, equipment maintenance and radio watch.
We have established our group as a competent rescue service operating under the control of the Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra (RCC) and Victorian Water Police.
Our future:
Our present vessel Capt John Mills has served us well and is a superb vessel for working in close. It has speed and agility to work in close to reefs and rocks but because of the semi open cab, is restricted by survey to operating within 15 nautical miles (30 kilometres) from shore.
Its limitations came to the fore in the recent search for the MaryS which was finally found adrift 20 nautical miles (40 kilometres) south of Port Fairy.
We were tasked by RCC to join Coast Guard and Water Police to search grids in the search zone but our limitation restricted us to within the 15NM limit. Our smaller vessel working in rough seas puts great stress on the boat and crew making our job harder in those conditions.
Rarely are we asked to go to a rescue in ideal conditions. It is mostly in rough weather and often at night requiring a high degree of skill and seamanship to complete the task successfully.
The short coming of the vessel in these circumstances has moved us to look toward seeking another vessel, larger and capable of going further to sea.
In 2007 the majority of rescues occurred within the limits placed on our boat but in recent times with the increasing interest in Tuna fishing, the vessels going to sea are getting bigger and going further to sea. Our area of responsibility is increasing in size emphasising the need for a larger rescue vessel that can safely service the increased area.
We have embarked on a feasibility study of our future needs and investigated a suitable larger vessel to replace our present 6.5 metre vessel.
To upgrade our service will cost at least $650,000 initially and with a larger vessel, our running and maintenance costs will increase accordingly.
We have embarked on a plan to raise the money from community and Government grants and hope we can reach our target over the next three years.
Possible changes:
The future direction of our rescue service will be subject to the findings of the Parliamentary Inquiry into the marine rescue service in Victoria, the finding due to be tabled in Parliament in August.
It is possible that all services, Coast Guard and independent marine rescue services will be amalgamated into one state organization structured similar to SES and CFA.
It would also be nice to think that some of the burden of financing the rescue service will be taken over by government and that training will be standardised and also financed.
The future will be interesting and we are sure that the Port Fairy Marine Rescue Service will flourish and continue to serve mariners operating in our waters.
