If something goes wrong on the water in beautiful Broken Bay, the volunteers from Marine Rescue NSW’s Broken Bay unit spring into action.

Fuelling rescue craft to cover an operational area that includes Pittwater, Broken Bay and as far south as Long Reef is expensive – and now the public can help by donating Return and Earn container refunds to the Broken Bay unit.

“We do huge amounts of fundraising to assist paying for our fuel costs,” said Steph Minshall, deputy unit commander of Marine Rescue NSW Broken Bay.

“On a typical weekend it is not unusual for us to do three or four assists of different types. It depends on the season.

“If we have a public holiday, like Australia Day or Boxing Day, there can be a lot of boating public out on the water, those are often our busiest days.”

The 101-strong volunteer unit is on call around the clock, ready to help in case of an emergency. The base at Bayview on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, is physically manned every weekend of the year, every public holiday and often one weekday during the summer boating season.

“Calls for help range from maydays, search and rescue, medical emergencies to someone who has run out of fuel and is about to drift onto rocks. It is a complete roulette as to what we are going to get,” said Steph.

“Our volunteers put much time into completing rigorous training to make sure we’re totally equipped to deal with search and rescue.”

But each mission includes a fuel bill for the unit.

“The biggest cost by far is fuel and the maintenance of our vessels,” Steph said.

“Most people don’t realise if we come from Bayview, and they are in Palm Beach and we need to tow them in, that is probably somewhere in the region of $150- $250 in fuel.”

While some grateful boaties offer a donation for the free service after being assisted, not all do.

“I think there’s a lack of awareness of the cost when you are towing someone. We have to maintain the vessels so they’re rescue ready.

“We are a service many people don’t know they need until they really need us.

“We are hoping to raise $10,000 through Return and Earn. Every donation counts and helps.”

All funding raised from the Return and Earn “Saving lives on the water, help us be there when you need” campaign will go to providing fuel, maintenance and additional training and resources.

• To donate search for Broken Bay in the charity section of the Return and Earn app. Then select “Saving lives on the water”.
• To learn more about the work of the Marine Rescue NSW Broken Bay unit, visit their webpage at https://brokenbay.marinerescuensw.com.au