BY LAUREN FREEMANTLE
An overdue boater has been located and brought back to shore after his friends issued a worried call to Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie around 7:20pm last night.
The man had been out on Tuggerah Lake in his tinnie, but failed to return the calls and texts of his friends on shore at Canton Beach, near Toukley.
Crews on board Tuggerah Lakes 20 and Tuggerah Lakes 21 were deployed to search the lake.
“TL
21 was on the water within an hour while TL 20 joined the search
after 10pm because of concerns for the boater," Marine Rescue NSW Inspector Courtney Greenslade said.
“With a lack of natural moon light both crews initiated their FLIR systems (Forward Looking Infrared) to scan the water’s surface.”
Around 12:30am this morning a member of the public informed emergency services that they could hear a tapping noise coming from the lake, thought to be the man tapping on the side of his vessel, west of Two Shores Holiday Village.
With the assistance of NSW Police PolAir, the man was located in his vessel and rescued by the crews from Marine Rescue Tuggerah Lakes.
He was returned to shore safely before 2am.
Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie has noted it was concerning that the man was relying on a mobile phone as his primary communication device, was not wearing a life jacket and did not have adequate lighting on the vessel.
Boaters are encouraged to always follow advice issued by Marine Rescue and complete a safety equipment check before heading out onto the water.
