‘All of a sudden we lost steering’: Owner details heart wrenching moment her historic ship sunk
A couple sailing their historic 20 metre 1958 Pilot Cutter struck danger in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel south of Woodbridge, igniting a rescue as the ship sunk. What the owner said:
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On her way to her second ever Australian Wooden Boat Festival the lovingly restored 1958 MV Goondooloo suddenly lost steering and was under water less than half an hour later.
Owner Deb Ludeke said the two crew on board were safe, but in shock.
After lovingly restoring the boat for the past five years Ms Ludeke could not watch the moment the historic boat went under.
“Craig [Bellgrove] said don’t turn around because he knew I’d be hysterical, and I was, and she went under,” she said.
Ms Ludeke said the boat was chugging along at 8.5 knots when she posted a video to Facebook showing the engine running “perfectly”.
“We were really happy and looking forward to meeting her sistership that’s down from Sydney and then all of a sudden we lost steering,” she said.
“I stepped into the engine room and I would have been knee deep in water.”
Ms Ludeke said the water was “gushing” in and was more than bilges could handle so they cut power and called the police on the phone and the marine radio who arrived in 5-10 minutes.
The police got on board and after assessing the situation they told the crew to get off.
“That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” Ms Ludeke said.
“She went down about ten minutes later.”
The Australian Wooden Boat Festival spokesperson said with respect to the privacy of the boat owner, they wouldn’t comment this morning on the incident.
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Originally published as ‘All of a sudden we lost steering’: Owner details heart wrenching moment her historic ship sunk
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Swift rescue after historic ship sinks in channel
A couple sailing their historic 20 metre 1958 Pilot Cutter struck danger in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel south of Woodbridge, igniting a rescue as the ship sunk. Here’s what went wrong.