23 October 2025, 2:44 AM
Volunteers from Marine Rescue Point Danger completed an 81 km round-trip rescue after responding to a Pan Pan call off the Tweed this morning.
A Pan Pan call indicates an urgent situation that is serious but where there is no immediate threat to life or the vessel.
Marine Rescue NSW Inspector Courtney Greenslade said radio operators at Marine Rescue Point Danger heard the distress call at 5:45am.
“Two people on board the 11-metre catamaran were stranded 22 nautical miles (40.5 km) east of Point Danger after the vessel’s steering cables broke and the back-up system failed while transiting to Ballina.
“A volunteer crew was rapidly assembled and deployed just after 6am on board Marine Rescue NSW vessel Point Danger 31 to rescue the sailors,” she said.
Marine Rescue Point Danger Deputy Unit Commander Guy Youngblutt skippered the rescue vessel and said conditions were not favourable offshore.
“The trip out was very uncomfortable, with two-metre seas and 20-knot winds,” he said.
The volunteer crew on board PD 31 reached the distressed vessel at around 7:20am, checked on the welfare of the two people on board, and secured a towline for the long, slow trip back to the Tweed River.
“Thankfully, conditions improved on the return leg,” Youngblutt said.
Point Danger 31 and the catamaran safely crossed the Tweed Bar on the incoming tide at around 11:05am before securing the vessel on a courtesy mooring at 11:30am.
“Both people on board the catamaran were exhausted but extremely grateful to be taken to enclosed waters.
“Our crew and radio operators did a wonderful job this morning in fatiguing circumstances,” Youngblutt said.
Marine Rescue NSW is a volunteer-based not-for-profit professional organisation dedicated to keeping boaters safe on the water and supporting local communities.