Sea rescuers in hot demand

WA police say it is only luck that nobody died during dozens of incidents off the WA coast in the past week.

After three major rescues, sea rescue volunteers are braced for more in the new year period and police warned skippers to check the weather and their safety gear and to obey navigation markers.

Fremantle Sea Rescue lived up to its billing as Australia's busiest sea rescue group at the weekend, responding to many incidents including dragging three people to safety near BP's Kwinana refinery after their small boat capsized.

Rescuers' counterparts from Whitfords were also busy yesterday. They rescued distressed kayakers and freed stranded boats and abandoned jetskis after monitoring dozens of early morning abalone fishers.

With warmer weather on its way, rescue experts pleaded with those planning to hit the water to prepare properly, including checking flares, batteries, lifejackets and emergency beacons.

Josh Gammon-Carson, from Fremantle Sea Rescue, said crews were braced for their busiest time after their most demanding weekend of the past year.

"Mistakes do happen, but occasionally you shake your head a bit at how people get themselves into trouble," he said. "With the hot weather coming we are going to get very busy, very quickly."

Last week, WA water police rescued four fishermen 30km west of Garden Island. They said their 6m boat sank so quickly one man was almost trapped aboard. They could not reach their emergency beacon but managed to radio for help and set off flares.

Within 30 minutes people in a passing boat came to their aid.

In another incident, 10 people were on a 12m boat when it caught fire near Rottnest Island.

They doused the flames but Fremantle Sea Rescue had to tow them back to the port.

Water Police Sgt Michael Wear urged people to take care.

"In the past three days, water police have assisted in pulling 11 people out of the water across the metropolitan area, which is quite a large number," Sgt Wear said.

"We've been very lucky there have been no deaths."

Common maritime mistakes include skippers missing or ignoring navigation markers, leading to groundings in the Swan River, and failing to take account of weather conditions.

Sgt Wear advised skippers to keep their EPIRB next to the steering console and ensure all required safety equipment was aboard.