Fisherman thanks heroes for Port Fairy sea rescue

Mr Smock had been fishing for blue grenadier and blue eye at a depth of 1000 feet about 30 nautical miles out from Port Fairy when he ran into trouble.

He twice attempted to start the port-side motor with no luck, and when the starboard motor kicked in it wouldn’t run properly.

He didn’t panic, but he knew it wasn’t good.

Mr Smock used his mobile to call friend Tim Brady on shore and asked him to get in contact with a commercial fishing boat – but it turned out the engine was under repair.

Then all the electricals went out on Mr Smock’s 26-foot PowerCat and, while it was still under power, it would have taken him til 2am to make it back to shore.

“I totally expected the commercial boat to come out and grab me. And then the starboard motor shut down,” he said.

Mr Clark grabbed his Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB), flares, safety bag – which contained a Snickers bar and water –  exposure coat which he put over his life jacket and was just about to throw out an anchor when he realised the boat was about to sink and started to list.

“It rolled over and flipped on me. I clambered out,” he said.

“The boat’s upturned and I’m sitting on the bow of the boat and water’s washing over me and I’m gathering my stuff together and I’m thinking ‘if this thing sinks, what have I got that can float?’” So he grabbed his Esky.

Mr Smock was carrying a large EPIRB, which lasts for hundreds of hours, and a smaller one which is encoded with Mr Smock’s information - so when it was activated they knew at Australian Maritime Safety Authority in Canberra and were able to contact the next of kin.

His wife Jenni, who was babysitting her young grandsons at the time, was notified by the AMSA and the family was regularly kept up-to-date. They stayed positive while they called on their church to pray.

Mr Smock, who had just one metre of boat to sit on, said that he knew could swim a couple of miles at sea, but not 30 nautical miles in the middle of nowhere. “People leave their vessels and you can’t do that. That’s the easiest thing for them to find. So until it actually sinks you need to stay there,” he said.

“I turned around and the whole back of the boat was like a blood slick from the fish that were in water and there were fish carcasses and stuff. I grabbed one of the fish and ripped a fillet off the side of him and threw that in my pocket.

“I had sushi, I had water, I had communication and had my exposure coat on. The sun was getting low. I thought, ‘there’s a good chance I’ll wake up somewhere around Portland or Port Mac’ because it was blowing east-south-east.

“I thought I’ll just tie myself to the boat with a slip knot in case it goes down and just prepare myself for the night.

“Then a wave came and blew the Esky away. I watched it go. It was going through the blood trail and through the dead fish and the Albatross were all feeding on it and I just thought ‘bye Wilson’ and waved goodbye to the Esky.”

Not long later, just as the sun was setting, he heard the helicopter approaching.

The helicopter had been on its way back from Geelong after a medical emergency and Mr Smock was told they had a 10-minute window in which they could winch him to safety.

The coast guard boat continued towards the rescue site until they received word he was safe.

For Mr Smock, it was a reversal of roles. “I was always the one in the water saving others,” he said.

He was a swimmer in college, water polo player and a Californian lifeguard, saving the lives of many people.

He came to Australia as a physical education and marine science school teacher and taught diving for many years before going into commercial fishing as an abalone diver.

Mr Smock said it was the first time in nearly 40 years they had been without a boat.

“We’ve always had boats. I’ve had a lot of time at sea. I’ve done a Sydney to Hobart. We took our 60-footer around Australia,” he said.

He said he wanted to emphasise the safety message - if you are going out in the ocean, if on a boat or windsurfing, then be prepared and carry safety gear.

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