About Us
The Crew
The Boat is crewed by members from the Surf Life Saving Clubs of the district. The number of crew varies between 25 and 30 members. The crew are designated to separate patrols. Each patrol has a skipper who is in charge of the boat and the crew. There is a driver who is second in charge but whose primary concern is driving the boat. The patrols also include a minimum of two crew who do the rescue work. There are also specialists crew who have qualifications as Ambulance Paramedics.
The Boat Design
The Boat built by Noosa Cats, who are a Queensland company. This renowned model of catamaran have been popular with Australian rescue crews for many years. Water Police in NSW use a similar craft. Offshore Rescue crews in Randwick, further north, use the earlier model of this boat. The main difference between the two models was the change away from a soft top to a hard top. The new model with the hard top allows a considerable increase in protection to the crew and also allowed the fitting of GPS and radar equipment to the boat. The new boat is also slightly larger at 8m, the older craft being 7.1m. The craft which we are using has no self righting capability but has a centre of gravity lower then any other boat. To date, there has only been one operational capsize of a Noosa Cat by a service and that was in extreme conditions. The hull of the boat is separated into separate sections and each section is filled with foam. Even if there was a hole in every compartment it will still float. The operational area for the Cronulla Sutherland Offshore Rescue Boat is 14 nautical miles out to sea. It patrols from Botany Bay to Otford in the Royal National Park and further if needed. In real terms, it has an operational time of 10 hours, at a speed of 35 knots on twin 275 litre tanks. The Boat is powered by twin 200 horse power Yamaha engines and cost around $85 000. The rear of the boat has a clear operational deck space of around 7square metres and all crew seats have shock absorbers. |
