WorkSafe investigating hotel that lent Appelbee family kayak, paddleboards

WorkSafe has confirmed it is carrying out preliminary investigations into the Dunsborough hotel that hired the Appelbee family a kayak and two paddleboards on the day they were swept out to sea by rough conditions.

In a statement, the watchdog said it was aware of the incident and was “currently making preliminary inquiries”.

It follows the family explaining how, as they drifted 14 kilometres out to sea during their eight-hour ordeal on Friday, they hoped the hotel might notice they were missing.

“As time went on, I thought, why hasn’t anyone come, and then I thought, well, the hotel will raise the alarm because obviously, we haven’t signed [the kayak and paddleboards] back in … so after three or four hours, they would come looking for us, so we’re all good,” Joanne Appelbee said on Tuesday.

Joanne’s younger son, Beau, 12, also claimed the coast guard had told hotels in the area not to hire out their water equipment that day due to the weather conditions.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the maximum wind gust recorded in the area that day was a south, south-westerly gust of 57km/h at 12.30pm, which was around the time the family started to get into trouble.

In a statement, Club Wyndham Dunsborough said it was thankful the family were rescued safely, and acknowledged Austin’s, 13, incredible swim back to shore for help.

“As our guests are free to use resort equipment on a complimentary basis until late in the day, our staff had no reason to be alarmed,” the statement read.

“Guests are aware that the beach is outside the resort grounds, is unpatrolled, and that there is no direct view of the beach from the resort.

“However, as a matter of course, the resort is conducting a safety review to minimise the risk of any similar incident occurring in the future.”

Joanne suggested hotels could consider hiring out dry bags for guests to be able to take their mobile phones out on the water with them.

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