A bit of drama happened off Newcastle beach on Sunday. Six people were rescued when an outrigger canoe overturned.
The Port of Newcastle David Allan dredge crew and a jet ski rider came to the rescue.
"We were heading out to sea like we normally do," dredge relieving master Trent Hollis said.
As the dredge moved around the southern breakwall, the crew saw a jet ski and "something behind it being towed".
"As we got closer, we realised there were six people in the water clinging to what looked like a half sunken outrigger," Trent said.
"A guy on a jet ski was doing his best to tow them to the harbour entrance. They were starting to get pretty close to the breakwall.
"There wasn't a lot of swell, but the swell was pushing onto the breakwall and the tide was slowing down."
The jet ski was getting closer to the breakwall.
"Then we made the decision that he couldn't deal with it by himself - we needed to assist," Trent said.
"We've got a rescue boat on the side of the vessel. The guys are good at getting it in the water fairly quickly."
Crew members took off in the boat and plucked three victims from the water and brought them back to the dredge.
"Then they got another two. One more wanted to stay with the outrigger," Trent said.
The victims told rescuers they were in the water for almost an hour and starting to experience symptoms of hypothermia.
The dredge crew pulled them from the water and provided thermal blankets before contacting the Port Authority of NSW, which came to the dredge and took the rowers to shore.
Best and Brightest
The CSIRO has found a never-before seen pulsar that is 10 times brighter than any other detected outside our galaxy.
It used a new observation technique described as the "astronomical version of sunglasses" to discover the "brightest extragalactic pulsar known".
First discovered in 1967, pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars, which form when massive stars die in supernovas.
The stars' cores collapse.
"I didn't expect to find a new pulsar, let alone the brightest," CSIRO researcher Yuanming Wang said.
Personal Best
Hunter Sports Centre is recruiting for a general manager for the first time in 20 years.
The new head honcho will be tasked with managing the centre's expansion.
Colleague: "I wonder if the new GM will need a PB [personal best] in any sport to get selected. Bad joke, sorry!"
Topics: "Actually, that is a mighty fine joke. Maybe they should have a running race to decide who gets the job."
Colleague: "With eggs in spoons."
