Wave swamps boat

Press, 2 January 1985, Page 5

Wave swamps boat

A West Coast fisherman suffered leg and head lacerations when a freak wave overturned his boat and he was forced to swim nearly half a kilometre to shore yesterday morning. Geoffrey Robson, aged 35, of Neils Beach, was picking up crayfish pots off the mouth of the Gorge River, between Big Bay and Cascade Point about 9 a.m. when the wave overturned his 9m fibreglass boat,

Coruba. He swam to shore and used a parachute flare that had been washed ashore to alert another fishing boat in the area. That boat radioed for assistance and a helicopter belonging to Alpine Helicopters was dispatched to rescue Mr Robson. Constable Roger Millard said there was a very big swell in the area but that Mr Robson was an experienced fisherman who was familiar with the area. He

had just been caught out by a freak wave, said Constable Millard. Mr Robson was treated by the district nurse after his rescue about 10.30 a.m. His fishing boat, bad big holes in the sides but some of it would probably be salvageable, Constable Millard said. A similar freak accident several years ago in the same area had claimed the life of another fisherman, he said.