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United States Yarrawonga residents help keep Paradise Queen balanced in the ...
The Yarrawonga community has been praised for their efforts to keep an iconic local boat balanced as it took on water.
- The Paradise Queen started to sink after strong waves hit its stern
- About 60 community members helped to keep boat balanced before emergency services arrived
- It took about three hours for the boat to be saved
The Paradise Queen, which was moored and not operating at the time, started to descend into Lake Mulwala from the Yarrawonga foreshore after strong waves whipped up by stormy weather hit the back of the boat.
Police and emergency services responded about 9pm Monday before an official stop to the incident was declared just before midnight.
Police also confirmed about 60 people had been on board the boat.
Paradise Queen owner Travis Smith was grateful for their efforts to limit damage to a vessel which had been operating in the community for about 40 years.
"They were actually getting on the front deck to try and help us to balance the boat so we could get it back up above the water line to give us a chance to pump the water out," he said.
"It's the type of community we live in.
"Everyone was willing to lend a hand and [to] come down and help out."
Could have been worseResident Shelley Beale posted on Facebook that she noticed the Paradise Queen taking on water just after 8pm.
"[We] jumped on to help keep the nose down [with about 50 others] all volunteers," she said.
"We donned life jackets, then two-and-a-half hours later [we were] asked by emergency services to leave to boat.
"Great effort by all involved."
Mr Smith said a local businessman brought an excavator with them to help prevent the boat from taking on too much water.
He said the excavator put more pressure on the front of the boat and allowed them to pump water from the back of it.
"It's with help like that, and a bit of community spirit, that we are still here," he said.
"We haven't copped as much damage as we could've."
'They'll basically keep floating'Mr Smith said the boat would not have sunk even if help had not arrived.
"It's not like an open hull boat," he said.
"They're closed pontoon so they'll basically keep floating.
"But you don't want to leave your boat in that position for any length of time because you're just going to damage the vessel."
He said the boat was being cleaned and should be up and running by the weekend.
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