28/07/2026
A Day in the Life … ‘B’ Crew, Saturday 25th July
The day starts at 0700 with a tea or coffee, a catch up with fellow members, and we’re into a bit of training in rope splicing and knots followed by a ‘tool box talk’ on refuelling processes.
0740: Morning shift Radio Operator Henry Sammut takes a call from a skipper of a 12 metre motor cruiser, Reel-Hab’, 2 POB, about to depart from Fitzroy Island.
Damian, the skipper aboard Reel-Hab, is concerned about the readings from his fuel management system and asked if we could be on standby should he need a tow into Cairns.
Our Skipper for the day, David Baume, considered it prudent to activate our rescue vessel ‘Rotary Spirit’ and rendezvous with the cruiser prior to it entering the Cairns channel . It's peak time of the morning for the outbound Cairns Reef Fleet traffic.
Good judgement calls from both skippers as Henry in the radio room soon had a call from Damian aboard ‘Reel-Hab’ that they do have a fuel flow issue and had anchored off False Cape and was requesting a tow into Cairns.
With a south-to-south easterly blowing at 15 to 20 knots and a lumpy 1 to 1.5 metre easterly swell wrapping around Cape Grafton, it was going to be a challenging assist.
That’s what we trained for and the crew aboard Rotary Spirit were soon on site, had the tow line secured to the cruiser and began a slow cautious run back into Cairns.
After ‘rafting’ up alongside Reel-Hab outside the Marlin Marina entrance, our skipper Dave, skilfully manoeuvred the vessels into the marina and secured Reel-Hab alongside the fuel wharf.
For the crew aboard Rotary Spirit it’s back to our training with a run up to Yorkeys Marina to complete new crew members training in refuelling procedures.
Making the most of the sheltered conditions within Yorkeys Marina, the crew enjoy a break for lunch then it’s back along the coast to our berth at Marlin Marina to complete our scheduled maintenance and equipment checks.
Once the checks and maintenance are complete, the vessel can be shut down and head back to our base at Wharf 6 for what could be considered an essential part of any crew day – The Debrief – a self and group assessment of what we did right and discussions around where we could improve.
Our boat crew and radio operators have again assisted the boating community by providing an invaluable service to the boating community by monitoring the airwaves and providing a response to vessels requiring assistance.
To Rebecca and Damian onboard Reel-Hab, pleased we could be of assistance. Enjoy Cairns, Safe voyage home.👊🏻
