Ted had calm season
THE Christmas period is usually the busiest time of year for Townsville’s waterways and the coast guard – but gloomy days, with strong winds kept boaties away.
The quiet period capped off the year for the coast guard, which responded to 137 activations rescuing 327 people.
“There was a period during winter when we had about eight weeks of really good weather and that was a peak period, where we were really busy,” said Townsville Coast Guard’s Ted Winterbottom said.
Those figures could have been higher had conditions been favourable, he said.
“We had fairly windy days from just after Christmas, right through, so there wasn’t a lot of activity on during the Christmas and New Year holiday this year,” Mr Winterbottom said.
On Christmas Day there was offshore winds of 30 knots at times, while 20 to 25 knots inshore associated with ex-tropical cyclone Owen, according to the weather bureau.
Just four rescues were conducted during the Christmas period, far less than the two previous years.
“Normally, it’s really busy, particularly if the weather is good,” Mr Winterbottom said. “It would be our busiest period of the year, but this year it was very quiet.
“We had strong wind warnings and that restricted the number of boats that went out.”
Twelve rescues were completed in 2017, while there was nine the 12 months before.
Mr Winterbottom said while the holiday period was relatively quiet, it had been a busy 12 months for the volunteer-base service.
“The fact is we had 137 rescues, which is a lot, when you really put it down it’s over two a week.”
Mr Winterbottom said the activations were pretty procedural for volunteers this year.
The major reasons for rescues were breakdowns, electrical problems, including faulty batteries, with fuel problems also being a cause.
With another ex-tropical cyclone lingering off the Queensland coast, strong wind and gale warnings are in place off the Townsville coastline.
Mr Winterbottom reminded boaties commonsense was needed in the coming days.
“If it’s a strong wind warning we recommend nobody goes out because if the boat does get in trouble … then it puts our members at risk if we have to go save them.
“So it’s really important they check the weather before they go out.”