4.2m Quintrex Dory: “No more broaching and no more spray in the face”
First of all I am extremely happy with my purchase of your 4.2m Dory “surf boat.” It now happily lives with me on South Stradbroke Island. The performance of the Boat Collar has been outstanding. I have been out on the Broadwater in really rough conditions with a strong southerly blowing (something I would not attempt in my last tinny) and made it across to the shops at Runaway Bay bone dry. No more broaching and no more spray in the face.
4.2m Quintrex Dory with a Kapten Boat Collar, making it so stable that Pat couldn’t make it capsize, even when standing on the Collar and leveraging his weight out.
I would like to mention two incidents that have happened to me since buying Pat’s boat that have really proven the worth of having a Boat Collar fitted.
Firstly; On returning from an outside fishing trip and entering the Gold Coast seaway (with a run-out tide) I was confronted with a jet ski coming directly at me at speed. I turned right to pass him but he also turned to my right . I then turned sharply to the left to avoid a collision and ended up in a deep compression wave on the southern side of the seaway. My fishing buddy who was sitting on the front seat was confronted with a wall of water and the bow starting to dig in. The Boat Collar lifted the bow up, and I was able to keep the power on and get us out of it.
The second incident happened on the way back from a shopping trip to Runaway Bay. On the way over there was a strong SW wind and I had to weave my way through a heap of kite surfers. On my return just on dusk the wind had dropped off, so no more kite surfers. Close to my home there are two small islands and in between is a channel where I saw a head bobbing up and down. I went across to investigate and found a kite surfer who had run out of wind and was stuck treading water in the channel. To get him on board, I asked him to grab the boat with his left hand, place his foot on the boat collar and I grabbed his right hand. It was easy to lift him up and in and the boat didn’t tilt sideways at all. We retrieved his kite and board and I returned him to the beach where his worried friends were waiting for him. They had phoned VMR and their rescue boat had just arrived at the same beach with yet another stranded kits surfer. At least I saved them another search, as this guy would have been hard to find in the dark, especially in that channel.
My job on the island has involved me in several rescues over the years and if there was an emergency on the Broadwater, I would not hesitate in jumping in the boat and using it as a rescue platform.
I firmly believe that every tinny should have a Boat Collar fitted, and I take my hat off to you, Pat, for such an amazing invention.
Kind regards,
Geoff J.
Tourist park ranger
South Stradbroke Island