Coroner urges boaters to be vigilant as Anglesea drowning details are revealed
A Victorian Coroner says a fatal drowning in Anglesea could have ended differently.
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The circumstances surrounding the death of a fisherman in Anglesea last year has been revealed as a Victorian Coroner urges boat users to be vigilant.
Coroner Audrey Jamieson says the death of three Victorian men in separate boating incidents throughout 2021 has highlighted the importance of education and competency training with vital safety issues observed across the fatal incidents.
It comes as 58-year-old Lancefield man, David Coulter drowned at O'Donoghues Beach in Anglesea on January 23, 2021.
It was Mr Coulter’s routine to spend his weekends in Anglesea at his holiday home, where he often went fishing with a friend.
In the Coroner’s report, it revealed Mr Coulter and a friend has been drift fishing for several hours off Point Roadknight beach before motoring to the offshore water of O'Donoghues Beach in attempts to catch whiting.
In the report Mr Coulter’s friend said, “we felt we were ok [at] where we were.”
The boat was struck by three large waves, with the final blow ejecting the pair from the boat.
Both men resurfaced but where struck by another wave before Mr Coulter was able to inflate his lifejacket.
Mr Coulter’s friend was able to deploy his lifejacket and swim to shore while Mr Coulter was soon located face down against some rocks.
CPR was administered but Mr Coulter died at the scene.
Coroner Jamieson said Mr Coulter was an experienced fisherman, who was found unresponsive in an uninflated personal flotation device (PDF).
She concluded the PDF was likely not inflated due to the insufficient time Mr Coulter had to respond to the incident.
“Mr Coulter’s incident was one of three recreational boating accidents that had occurred in 2021 and appeared to have occurred in similar circumstances,” she said.
“The similarities in these circumstances were that small vessels had been launched or operated at an inshore coastal location such as surf zones or ocean bars that are less than two nautical.”
Nambrok man Terry Chandler was found unresponsive in Jack Smith Lake State Game Reserve with a partially inflated PDF on January 20, 2021, while fellow Nambrok man Michael Hanratty was found unconscious in the water on March 8, 2021. He was not wearing his PDF.
Coroner Jamieson concluded that while it was not possible to say if fully inflated PFDs would have prevented the men’s deaths, the devices would have enhanced their chances of survival.
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