Maritime safety authorities are urging boat users to wear a lifejacket even if they don’t legally have to, after an elderly man and his dog were rescued off Altona beach on Wednesday last week.
Police said 75-year-old Keilor East man, Alfonse Attard, got into trouble when his tinny started taking on water about a kilometre from shore about 6.30am.
Altona Life Saving Club volunteers saw the sunken boat and rushed to help.
Lifesaver Aaron Hunt said when his crew arrived the man had already been plucked from the water by a couple of local fishermen, Laurie Borg and his son.
The crew returned to look for Mr Attard’s dog, Jack the jack russell.
Water Police were called to recover the boat and tow it back to the boat ramp.
Police said the dog was found alive and well inside the vessel, presumably surviving in an air pocket under the bow.
Adrian Mnew, maritime safety acting director with Transport Safety Victoria, said 69 boating “incidents” had been recorded since December 1, 2015, at the north end of Port Phillip Bay (north of Latitude 38.05 South).
These included Mr Attard’s sunken boat, one capsized boat, 57 broken-down vessels, six groundings, and four people in trouble, including kayakers being washed too far offshore.
“We want every boater or paddler on the water to come home safely, so I’m calling on boaters to wear a lifejacket even when the law doesn’t require it,” Mr Mnew said. “Summer and the holiday season are when most boating incidents and fatalities occur. Any incident or fatality is one too many.”
As at the end of November, in 70 per cent of boating fatalities statewide, the deceased was not wearing a lifejacket.
“Unfortunately, Victoria has the most kayak fatalities in Australia and New Zealand – 30 per cent of overall boating fatalities in the past five years compared with 13 per cent in New Zealand,” Mr Mnew said.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg. All the near misses and the rescues by other boaters that could so nearly have been fatalities are not reported to us or other authorities.”
