News tonight in Sydney is reporting:
"FIVE sailors have been rescued from a yacht after it ran aground off the NSW Central Coast.
The 30-foot vessel hit a sandbar about 25 metres off Ettalong Beach, in Broken Bay, just after 1pm on Wednesday.
Attempts by water police to tow the vessel off the sandbar failed, while the Westpac Life Saver helicopter was used to winch one of the crew to safety.
Authorities were trying to salvage the yacht."
The report I saw said one man was rescued and the others swam ashore. Does anyone know how it happened?
Without knowing too much about it, running aground there is rare, because everyone who is local to the area, or has charts or has a sounder would soon realise how shallow it is. Perhaps they were frommm out of the area, or had some kind of failure of gear or engine.
It's not really well marked, apart from the Box Head channel to Half Tide rocks,
they werent following the marker bouys by the sounds of it. its a tricky spot and you gotta follow eastern side around. further up near the bridge the current is so strong you can get knocked down by it. i guess we were lucky. tide check really important in there. you can get buffetted from swell one side, wind another side and the fast moving tide from another.
I witnessed the whole event and was stunned at why any would sail straight into breaking waves...NO WHERE NEAR THE CHANNEL just lucky no one was hurt 
Ironic how a kitesurfer rescued one of the stranded sailors. Usually it's the other way round with boaties rescuing kiters who get in trouble.
