# Sunfish kills cat



## garymalmgren (Jan 26, 2021)

www.ulladullatimes.com.au/story/7532725/dramatic-sea-rescue-near-green-island/

Three crew on board an 11 metre catamaran en route to Bermagui had a dramatic rescue today after their vessel, purchased just days earlier, began taking on water after hitting a sunfish13 nautical miles east of Green Island near Ulladulla.
The crew of the catamaran sent out a Mayday at 1255 and activated their EPIRB, climbing into two dinghies to await rescue.

Marine Rescue Ulladulla rescue vessel UL30 was responded, and with guidance from a Royal Australian Navy helicopter from HMAS Albatross that had been deployed to assist, and the signal from the crew's EPIRB, quickly located the striken vessel. The Naval helicopter remained after their arrival with life rafts ready to drop should they have been required.
Arriving at the stricken catamaran just after 2pm, UL30 took the crew of three on board and then delivered them safely back to dry land at Ulladulla, with all on board safe and well.

A securite is current for all ships in the area advising a navigational hazard from the sinking vessel at 35 17.427 South 150 46.656 East.
The crew on UL30 were Skipper Lesley Kelly, Warwick Haslam, Mark Squires, Clive Woodward and radio operator Allan Dean and Watch Officer Keven Marshall.


----------



## hpeer (May 14, 2005)

Sun fish? I think they are also called moa moa? Really huge fish that sun near the surface. But still seems a bit of a stretch that it should have sunk a yacht.


----------



## garymalmgren (Jan 26, 2021)

*. But still seems a bit of a stretch that it should have sunk a yacht. *

*Not at all*








Ocean Sunfish


Ocean sunfish are foraging predators that will eat a variety of food, but their preferred prey are jellyfishes. Jellyfishes are almost exclusively made up of water and are low in calories/nutrients, so a fish with a body as large as the ocean sunfish’s has to eat a whole lot of jellyfishes to...




oceana.org




They grow up to 5000 pounds.

www.pressure-drop.us/forums/content.php?8021-Sunfish-Sinks-Hollywood-Boulevard


----------



## jtsailjt (Aug 1, 2013)

Almost ran into this one 2 years ago. Pretty bizarre looking fish!


----------



## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

Must be horrible to just buy a boat then to have it wrecked in its maiden voyage.

Good to see it stayed afloat till they were rescued.


----------



## Barquito (Dec 5, 2007)

Sometimes I think about all the work I have done on my boat, and wonder if that would make me more reluctant to be rescued vs trying to tough it out.


----------



## colemj (Jul 10, 2003)

How would you tough it out if your boat sunk? There wasn't any other option here.

How this happened is interesting. Not the Sunfish part, but the sinking part. Apparently, the sunfish caused considerable damage around the rudder post with water ingress. Normally, this isn't fatal on a Seawind catamaran because the rudder is behind a watertight bulkhead, and the boat could have gone on sailing this way.  However, to better get to the rudder area to assess and try to fix the damage, the owners removed the watertight bulkhead, which allowed water to quickly flood the rest of the hull.

BTW, the boat didn't sink. 

Mark


----------



## MarkofSeaLife (Nov 7, 2010)

colemj said:


> However, to better get to the rudder area to assess and try to fix the damage, the owners removed the watertight bulkhead, which allowed water to quickly flood the rest of the hull.



I suppose because they were new owners they didnt know about it?

If one rudder post/quadrant/etc is damaged how do you separate it so the boat can be sailed on the undamaged rudder?


Mark


----------



## capttb (Dec 13, 2003)

"The *ocean sunfish* or *common mola* (_Mola mola_) is one of the two heaviest known bony fish in the world, the other being the southern sunfish (_Mola alexandrini_) of the same genus"
See them pretty regular around here, they usually dive when startled and I've never experienced more than a "near miss" ,off the bow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_sunfish


----------



## hpeer (May 14, 2005)

I have seen mola mola, or giant sunfish, in Newfoundland.


----------



## colemj (Jul 10, 2003)

MarkofSeaLife said:


> I suppose because they were new owners they didnt know about it?
> 
> If one rudder post/quadrant/etc is damaged how do you separate it so the boat can be sailed on the undamaged rudder?


I can't speculate on why they did that. Perhaps because they were new owners and didn't understand the bulkhead's purpose, or perhaps because at first the leak didn't seem too threatening and they thought if they had better access they could do something more to mitigate.

How to continue on with one rudder depends on the boat's steering system design. First, if it was just the rudder tube that was damaged, the rudder may still have been operable. If not, then the usual strategy is to center and stabilize the damage rudder if possible, then disconnect it and steer with the other rudder. If the other rudder can't be steered with the helm, then use the autopilot if the drive is located on that rudder (or put a drive on each rudder for this possibility). The alternate here is to use the emergency tiller on the operable rudder. If none of the above are options, then center and stabilize both rudders and steer the boat with the engines.

Isolating a rudder depends on the type of steering system. Hydraulic steering has bypass valves located on each rudder. Many cable steering systems have rudders connected by a crossbar that can be disconnected as long as the good rudder has the cable quadrant. Some dual helm boats have a wheel on each rudder. It's not possible to isolate and drive a rudder with a pull-pull cable system. I don't know how this is done with Mamba drives.

Mark


----------



## colemj (Jul 10, 2003)

capttb said:


> they usually dive when startled


The ones we have seen don't seem very capable of quickly diving. Or of being startled They don't seem capable of much besides just slowly flopping around on the surface. Often time it is hard to determine if they are even alive. I don't know if they can dive or not, but they sure don't look the part.

Mark


----------



## jtsailjt (Aug 1, 2013)

colemj said:


> The ones we have seen don't seem very capable of quickly diving. Or of being startled They don't seem capable of much besides just slowly flopping around on the surface. Often time it is hard to determine if they are even alive. I don't know if they can dive or not, but they sure don't look the part.
> 
> Mark


Thats just what I thought when I came across the one in the pictures I posted. It was barely moving and at first I thought I thought it was dead. I stopped right beside it to take the pictures and it didn't make any attempt to dive or swim away. Just seemed to be barely, slowly, flopping around. After seeing that, I'm not surprised they occasionally get run into.


----------



## hpeer (May 14, 2005)

IIRC I have read they mive up and down in the water column with their food supply and the light. I cant recall which is the “normal” daylight level, up or down.


----------



## capttb (Dec 13, 2003)

Local paper had a story yesterday, there's pictures with a paddleboard that provide a little scale, this one estimated at 9 ft.
This ‘bizarre’ creature is a massive sunfish spotted near Laguna Beach


----------

