Margie Maccoll
Noosa Coast Guard came to the aid of a solo sailor off Teewah Beach who called for help after suspecting he was suffering a heart attack last Sunday morning.
Coast Guard commander Ian Hutchins said Coast Guard received a call from Tin Can Bay Coast Guard for assistance at 7am and despatched a rescue vessel with a defibrillator and oxygen and a first aid-trained crew member a few minutes later.
Commander Hutchins said the team requested a medivac-helicopter rescue service but were told it was not available due to a problem with its winch operation.
The rescue team received another call at 8am saying the man was “not doing well. He had chest pains. He had a history of heart attacks and had had a stroke in the past,“ they were told.
By 8.15am the Coast Guard had pulled up alongside the yacht, taken the sailor onboard and was delivering first aid treatment. A Coast Guard crew member remained on the man’s yacht.
The team returned to Munna Point base, calling ahead for an ambulance which met them on their arrival at 8.45am, and he was taken to hospital.
Commander Hutchins said the rescue crew then returned to the yacht and after dispatching a second crew member onboard the yacht, towed it over the Noosa Bar to safely anchor it in Woods Bay.
