Boaties tried to call for help: coroner
It was a Hail Mary SMS, a last-ditch text message from two stricken boaties to a friend on dry land: "Help we are stranded in the sea with no fuel Norah Heads".
But their mate back in Sydney brushed off the SOS text as a ruse to get him to join Damion Diamond and Richard Choi on their Central Coast fishing trip, a NSW coroner says.
Mr Diamond and Mr Choi had already tried calling triple zero after setting out on June 2, 2013.
The emergency dispatcher on the other end of the line couldn't make out a call for help as the two men sat in their runabout and bad weather rolled in.
Deputy State Coroner Sharon Freund on Friday ruled that the men, aged 43 and 37, had drowned off the NSW coastline and that their boat had probably capsized.
"I am satisfied that whilst at sea (their) vessel likely suffered either a mechanical failure or ran out of fuel, which rendered it incapable of being manoeuvred in such hazardous and treacherous conditions," Ms Freund wrote.
The men's bodies were never found.
Marine Rescue NSW volunteer Malcolm Fletcher told the inquest he saw the pair preparing to set out from Norah Head and warned them that high winds and heavy seas were on the way.
Witnesses testified that the pair were bailing out water even as they launched.
Yet despite the midday triple-zero call and the SMS half an hour after that, it wasn't until 3pm that police were alerted.
Locals raised the alarm after noticing a car and boat trailer still in the car park as heavy rain and strong winds lashed the coastline.
Two yellow lifejackets, shoes, an esky lid and a fishing net were found washed up at Stockton Beach two days later.
