Coast Guard Western Port VF04

Anzac Day march.

Well April's Spring weather certainly turned on a magnificent day for the march.
The crowd numbers were fantastic, both at the dawn and 11am services.

To the members of the public who turned out to support all of our current and past serving servicemen / women and emergency services employees and volunteers, past and present, the support you have shown is humbly appreciated.

Lest We Forget
Today, we pause to honour the bravery, sacrifice, and spirit of the men and women who served, and continue to serve our country.

Anzac Day is a time to honor the courage and sacrifice of all who have served, remembering both those who died and those who returned changed. The day reflects of mateship, sacrifice, and the enduring Australian spirit.

As we get older we realise just what those sacrifices meant to their families and to the generations of Australians who now live in peace in this wonderful country

To those still in uniform, you carry forward a legacy that began more than 110 years ago. We are proud of you.
The uniform may come off, but the courage never does.
Sending respect and gratitude to our servicemen and women today.
You are not forgotten.

Western Port Coast Guard will be attending the Anzac Day march in Hastings today at 10:30.
Hope to see you there, and all are welcome to come say hello afterwards.

Hastings Emergency Services Open Day

Pop down and come say hello to us and all the members of Emergency Services that serve our community

The event concludes at 14:00

Community Support Grant


Recently we were humbled to have Mornington Peninsula Shire team up with Western Port Coast Guard in a grant for .
This allowed our flotilla to procure long / short sleeve shirts, wide brim hats, and hoodies.

Given our exposure to the wonderful elements of nature, both good and bad, these clothing items have become a valuable piece of equipment assisting us to serve the boating and recreational water community, in and surrounding areas of Western Port.

Continued support from the community such as is a key factor in the sustainability of organisations like Western Port Coast Guard.
We are extremely grateful to all involved in the assistance we receive.

https://www.mornpen.vic.gov.au/Home?fbclid=IwVERDUARJi5dleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR6CAUAbTLg64E61SCqcDiQwlUgB0j3flSa0FMGlFnOGu2fT8kWqoHKcAT7dZw_aem_HHH-Tf5MaQD8Ehofrjtgmg

**Priority Rescue**
Sinking vessel off San Remo.

Last Thursday night at 20:02 we received an alert for a possible sinking vessel.
Immediate response required, no details, updates en route.
Update, PolAir is up and en route.
Our vessel R301was soon on the water and making its way.

Now I'll pause this post here and say that in the end there wasn't a sinking vessel, no persons were in the water, no one required rescuing, which is the best possible outcome for all involved.
No one was having a really bad day.

So the rest of the "Priority Rescue" went as follows.
Received a search pattern from WatPol, (Water Police).
Rounding Tortoise Head we could see PolAir searching out to sea off the coast of San Remo and Phillip Island.
2kms out from passing under San Remo Bridge we can see PolAir circling out to sea in the area off Punchbowl Rd. We've assumed they have located the possible sinking vessel.
Updated positions of objects in the water received from WatPol.
Arriving on scene via radio coms and PolAir's search light we have located something we didn't expect, and can totally understand why a call to 000 was made in the first place.
An unmanned research drone.
The call to 000 came from residents at a house overlooking the Southern Ocean, who became concerned that a vessel had sunk.
Now these residents did everything correct. It was on dusk, after sunset, and probably impossible to visually see for certain even with optical aid what the object was.

Once the objects identity was established all assets were stood down. Photos were taken for reference for our agencies and we returned home.

This potential incident was a valuable controlled coordinated effort between all our rescue agencies. Everything went like clock work as per all our training we regularly conduct for such incidents that may, and unfortunately do, arise.
But in the end, no one was in danger. Best outcome.

This is what we have learned about this unmanned sea drone.
Link below:
https://www.penguins.org.au/conservation/research/australian-first-sailing-drone-ready-to-explore-penguin-feeding-grounds/?fbclid=Iwb21leAPzQ7FjbGNrA_NDq2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHg5nh7pXQr4t32Rd0-Qqh4d9NK5hIJFpQRmpDw0I_5_apGquuBg3SDuVpMqB_aem_UAUIxkN8WgczjIDeWSMWVA

P.S. look for our next post coming soon about our recent rescues, including a very valuable lesson learnt for a kayaker and his family.

Merry Christmas 🎄🎆

On behalf of Western Port Volunteer Coast Guard, we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for the season ahead.
Be safe, but most of all enjoy your time with friends and family and have fun.
We are always on standby during these holiday times, ready to help our community get home safely when the time arises.

Safe travels, and please call 000 in an emergency.

Regards VF04 😁👋🏼

What have you been up to lately?
Us, well read on below.

Western Port Coast Guard members have been quite busy recently.
In the last 6 weeks we have been on the water 17 times,
Performed 15 rescues amongst these,
Attended 2 public duel emergency services open days,
Represented Coast Guard at an internal duel emergency services refresher training session,
Held 2 nights of senior crews ongoing theory training,
3 sessions of new recruits ongoing training days.

Behind all this, is the constant effort of background administration and operational requirements by our members.

The coming month ahead of December sees our Flotilla VF04 engaging with the public several times again, plus the potential for more of the above stats to occur.

Please remember your boating and recreational water safety as we move towards the Christmas period.

Regards
Western Port Coast Guard,
and our fellow emergency services.

$4 Million announcement towards two brand new rescue vessels.

On 6th Nov we had the pleasure of hosting Southern Peninsula Rescue Squad, Viki Ward, ( Emergency Services Minister), Paul Mercurio, ( member for Hastings ), representatives from EMV, CFA, and Western Port Coast Guard members, for the announcement of $4 million towards 2 new rescue vessels to serve the waters of Western Port, southern Port Phillip Bay and the areas offshore from there
This is fantastic news with our current aging Rescue vessel R301, now 28yrs old.
This investment will greatly improve the means to better serve our boating community.
Something we are dearly looking forward to, to be able to continue our service towards you.

We send our sincere thanks and gratitude to those that have helped in achieving this outcome.

Come say hello.
Looking forward to seeing some of our followers and members of the public this Sunday.
Weather looks great to.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1AA2TVPDTZ/

A chance for dual disabled vessel towing training.

A few months ago our primary rescue vessel, R301, was returned to us after having its fuel tanks replaced.

During this period of R301's repairs, for a short time we had the use of a replacement vessel, R304.
Naturally R304 would be reassigned elsewhere when R301 was returned to us. But for the couple of days while vessel handovers occurred we had the use of 3 emergency vessels.

We took the very rare opportunity to conduct dual towing exercises.
In this instance 3 of our upcoming skippers were given this chance and each performed the process of,
...collection of and placing two DV's under tow at the same time,
...releasing both DV's from the tow in correct procedures for safety in the event of an emergency, such as a man overboard or life saving / life in distress situation,
...manoeuvring so both DV's don't have a collision under tow,
...and safely getting both DV's to a safe port.

With the upcoming better weather, busy boating and fishing activities in the months ahead, this was an extremely valuable flotilla training exercise to assist you when the time comes.

As always be safe out there, call 000 if you need assistance.

VF04, Coast Guard Hastings 👍🏼👍🏼