Rescue At Flat Rock

A navigational error by skipper Owen Moorhouse kicked off a daring helicopter rescue mission and made him a local TV celebrity.

On my return from Fraser Island, off the Australian Queensland coast, I stopped over at Mooloolaba. By chance I met Jim, a Canadian yachtsman aboard his boat Island Orix. After an amicable chat, we decided to sail in company south towards Sydney, some 687km away.

Both solo sailors, we agreed that our first port of call should be Southport, just 172km away. There are two routes to reach Southport: one through the inland waterway of Moreton Bay and the other, southwards along the eastern coast. The inland waterway is notorious for sandbars and as Island Orix draws 1.5m and my 38ft Roberts yawl Sandpiper 1.2m, we decided on the safer coastal passage. The weather forecast was ideal for what was to be a 24-hour trip, so we set out the following day.

Jim had already left before I cleared Mooloolaba’s Duckhole at 8am, and from there I set a course for Cape Moreton. It was a bit of a ‘white knuckle’ passage across the busy Spitfire Channel that carries commercial shipping to Brisbane. With a Force 5 north-easterly on my beam, I felt blessed by the perfect conditions. However, as I approached the Cape, I became increasingly alarmed by the presence of large patches of brown sediment in what appeared to be shallow water. My chart showed no shoals within the immediate vicinity and my depth sounder indicated ample water beneath the keel. With the prospect of running aground a distinctly disturbing thought, I motorsailed with uneasy caution. I learned later from locals that the sediment was simply coral spawn from nearby Flinders Reef.

As my stress levels slowly dissipated, my attention was soon drawn to a pod of humpback whales breaching in dazzling sunshine. Their display was too good to pass up so I hove to and watched in wonder as these massive creatures breached joyfully, creating huge splashes of water. But time was drifting and I resumed a southerly course around the Cape.