In short:
Two kayakers have been rescued off the North Queensland coast, one of whom was treading water for hours.
Seventeen teenagers onboard an eight-day school holiday tall ship voyage joined in a rescue effort coordinated by Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
What’s next?
A 55-year-old woman who suffered exposure has been discharged from hospital and the South Passage has continued its voyage.
Teenagers spending their school holidays on an eight-day sailing trip have rescued a pair of kayakers from choppy, crocodile-prone waters in North Queensland.
Sailing master Robyn Elkington, who was on the South Passage along with 17 teenagers, said the tall ship was called in to rescue the kayakers about midday on Thursday.
The ship was at the southern end of Hinchinbrook Island, east of Cardwell, while the kayakers were stranded at the northern end of the 35-kilometre long island.
“While we were sailing south we had a call from Canberra to say that there had been a man-overboard button activated,” Ms Elkington.
“There wasn’t any other boats out there except a tanker way out to sea, and he wasn’t coming in.”
The man and woman kayaking around Hinchinbrook Island became stranded and one of the kayaks, paddled by a 55-year-old woman, was upturned.
Deadly crocodiles in channel
The female kayaker had to tread water for hours in the Hinchinbrook Channel — the same area where fisherman Andrew Heard was killed by a saltwater crocodile in 2021.
“All the kids were looking out for the two hard-to-see kayaks in pretty choppy conditions,” Ms Elkington said.
“They had tied one kayak to the other — the man was paddling one kayak and the lady was hanging onto the back … she couldn’t get into hers.”
While the rescue helicopter was called in, teenagers helped get the 55-year-old woman on board their ship.
“She had been in the water for about three or four hours. The temperature is really warm but she was shivering when she got onto the boat,” she said.
“The young people took over; they got her onboard, dried her, warmed her up and gave her a rest.
“The girls were so caring in that situation, they sat and talked to her and reassured her that she would be OK.”
The crew onboard the South Passage had to use their tender to get the woman close enough to the helicopter.
“You can’t take a rescue helicopter off a boat with a mast so we had to launch our tender,” Ms Elkington said.
“We put her in the tender with a couple of crew so the helicopter could get right down to the boat.”
Woman recovering
The 55-year-old woman was flown to Cairns and spent Thursday night in hospital before being discharged on Friday morning.
The male kayaker was taken to Cardwell by local marine rescue volunteers.
Ms Elkington, who is operations manger for the South Passage, said the rescue effort was an educational experience for the teens on board.
“She [the tall ship] was built 30 years ago as a vessel to take young people out,” she said.
“The idea is to teach them resilience, leadership and stretching themselves beyond their limits.”
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