Houseboat crash: debris left on Newcastle and Lake Macquarie beaches as driver ignores marine rescue advice

Mr Samways said the debris first started to wash up on Saturday morning after a 15-metre vessel capsized offshore at The Entrance about two days before.

"Council lifeguards assessed the debris, which was spread from Redhead surf club past Third Creek, and liaised with Transport for NSW (TFNSW) which immediately engaged a clean-up contractor to remove the debris," he said.

"Council has been working closely with the clean-up team and TFNSW to assist with the clean-up along the affected stretch of beach."

He urged walkers to avoid the beach until the clean-up is finished, which is expected to be done by Friday.

Lake Macquarie City Council crews will use sand-grooming machines to collect any hidden pieces of debris to further reduce the risk to beachgoers.

It's still unclear whether the driver of the houseboat will be responsible for paying for the clean-up, with the council saying that decision lies in the hands of the state government.

TFNSW Maritime is the lead agency in the salvage operation, and a spokeswoman said the master of the boat was safely rescued by NSW Police Marine Area Command.

"NSW Police attempted to tow the vessel, but due to its weight and the rough conditions the tow lines snapped," she said.

"The vessel was not towed as the rough sea conditions at the time were determined to be too dangerous for further attempts."

She said the houseboat overturned near Norah Head and washed ashore overnight on Friday near Swansea Heads, with broken up debris spread across Redhead, Blacksmiths and Hams beaches.

NSW Maritime is investigating the capsize incident, and the TFNSW spokeswoman said the top priority is ensuring all the debris is cleaned up as quickly as possible.

"We notified Lake Macquarie City Council of the drifting vessel on Friday, and provided updates across the weekend as debris came ashore," she said.

DEBRIS from a houseboat has been left scattered up and down Hunter beaches to the Central Coast after the driver thumbed his nose at NSW Marine Rescue advice.

The driver of the houseboat went out in rough, near gale force conditions against the advice of Lake Macquarie Marine Rescue radio operators at Swansea Heads last week.

Unit commander Jim Wright said the driver was specifically warned about the dangerous seas and urged him to rethink the trip to Davistown on the Central Coast.

"Houseboats aren't designed to go offshore in heavy conditions," he said.

"The vessel overturned and the one person onboard managed to get off alright, he's safe but a lot of the superstructure of the boat has broken off and ended up on our beaches from the Central Coast to here.

"It was not a good decision by the skipper on the day and he paid the price for a bad decision."

Mr Wright said the boat ran into trouble near The Entrance on Thursday, last week, and both Hunter Surf Life Saving and the NSW Water Police were called out from Broken Bay to assist.

Stationed at the radio base at the time, Mr Wright said a gale force wind warning had only just been downgraded to strong winds at 25 knots at Swansea Heads.

"We don't have the power to stop them from going and doing anything like that, we can warn them, which we did, because the vessel was not suited to be offshore in those conditions, but unfortunately we can't stop them, we don't have enforcement powers at all," he said.

"We half expected him to go out, see how rough it was and turn back but he didn't, he kept on his merry way down south.

"This is a good example of what not to do - people should always make sure their boat is suitable for conditions, they have all the safety gear, take notice of the weather or warnings and plan their trip safely."

The Newcastle Herald understands the man driving the boat at the time was not the owner.

Now, locals have been left with the tough job of cleaning up the region's beaches, with Redhead in particular scattered with piles of debris.

Charlestown resident Jai Dark visits Redhead Beach almost every day and said he first saw the rubbish washed up on Saturday morning.

"We park at what we call the 'local carpark', walked down there and saw there was all this rubbish on the beach," he said.

"I thought kids had been down there setting fire to the timber, when I walked down there I saw it was pieces shaped like a houseboat and as I walked south the pieces got bigger and more present.

"There were bottles of shampoo, full walking decks, structural pieces of the boat where you'd walk and aluminium with styrofoam in the centre and there was still a lot of it in the water."

Mr Dark said on Sunday the debris was still laying across the sand.

The Herald has contacted Lake Macquarie City Council for comment.

It's unclear at this stage who is responsible for removing the debris from the city's beaches.

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