2016 Scuttlebutt Cherbourg Cruise

colhel said:
I'm wondering due to the amount of newbies this year, and I include myself in that,that it might be worth having a pre-scuttlebutt get together to discuss passage plans and hopefully some more experienced scuttlebutters can be encouraged to turn and offer first hand advice. We could drink beer too. Or prosseco.
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I approve this message.
 
Angele said:
Hopefully Sniffy shouldn't end up in the Casquets TSS on her way to or from Brighton and Cherbourg. If she does, I'd question her navigation skills. ;)
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VHF comms is line of sight. On the way over from Portsmouth to the Cherbourg Peninsula radio reception is varied and just because the coast Guard can transmit to you, it doesn't follow that they can hear you, if you try to send back. Big ships funnelling into and out of the Dover CSZ may cause concern when travelling from the East, and those coming up from Le Havre going westward, if you're on the French side, but as long as you know where you are, you should know what to look out for and my post was trying to reassure newbies that even if they are out of Radio Contact with the land, there are things you can do to help yourself if vis closes down.

PS +1 for the meet, if I"m around!
 
Topcat47 said:
VHF comms is line of sight. On the way over from Portsmouth to the Cherbourg Peninsula radio reception is varied and just because the coast Guard can transmit to you, it doesn't follow that they can hear you, if you try to send back. Big ships funnelling into and out of the Dover CSZ may cause concern when travelling from the East, and those coming up from Le Havre going westward, if you're on the French side, but as long as you know where you are, you should know what to look out for and my post was trying to reassure newbies that even if they are out of Radio Contact with the land, there are things you can do to help yourself if vis closes down.

PS +1 for the meet, if I"m around!
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Thanks, and I do feel much reassured.

Also, brushing up on my navigational skills!
 
Topcat47 said:
VHF comms is line of sight.....
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I know. I was just pulling your leg about the reference to the Casquets TSS, knowing that Marschallin is berthed in Brighton.

Edit that: the for sale add says Langstone - but still a long way east of the Casquets.
 
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Topcat47 said:
Firstly, if you're any where near the Casquettes separation zone, you may well find yourself out of radio range. Last year I was unable to raise Jersey, Guernsey, Solent or Joberg when there.

I was also caught out with a gear failure and sudden poor vis, despite a rising wind. I broadcast an "all ships" Warning with my position, speed and course every ten minutes until I got a reply from the City of New York, a huge container ship out of Amsterdam. He located me on his radar and remained in contact. Interestingly he was unable to get a response from the Coastguard either. A condor ferry picked up our transmissions and took over as good shepherd until we were in good vis AND contact with Solent Coast Guard. They monitored out progress until we were safely in Yarmouth Harbour.

I don't have AIS or Radar. A modicum of common sense helps, of course, and the goodwill of fellow sailors. Once in contact with another vessel, my only worry was a further gear failure.
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What is the format of an all ships warning in those situations, apart from position, speed and course?
 
We will leave from POMPY early on the Friday morning this will be our first crossing for a number of years! Might be nice if we could agree a time for some eastern Solent boats to rendezvous around Bembridge ledge??

A question! I do not carry a life raft, in the past on offshore crossings I've rented one but always found the thing in the way and wonder how quickly I could deploy the thing if never needed ?

What's the view rent one or leave a semi deflated dinghy on deck ready for action?

Regards Derek
 
If it's not too blowy I'd personally be happy enough with a decent "fully" inflated dinghy. ....forget pumping in a crisis! Assuming a suitable comms system to raise the alarm if necessary (pyro, electronic, etc) it is unlikely to take more than 30 mins or so for help to arrive if it all goes go the proverbial way up!

Re departure -- I'm also leaving from Portsmouth, but generally kick off Friday from the Needles end if the wind is in the SW. It makes about a 20 degree difference to the destination's opening bearing.
 
SimonFa said:
What is the format of an all ships warning in those situations, apart from position, speed and course?
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"All Ships x 3 followed by "this is Yacht ???" x 3 then it's all down to you. I gave my position, cog & sog from the gps and a short description of my problem, then waited for a reply. Pretty standard stuff from your VHF course. It really depends on where you are and how worried it makes you before re-transmitting if no reply heard. If you're in serious trouble, then a broadcast Mayday would be the order of the day.
 
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Topcat47 said:
"All Ships x 3 followed by "this is Yacht ???" x 3 then it's all down to you. I gave my position, cog & sog from the gps and a short description of my problem, then waited for a reply. Pretty standard stuff from your VHF course. It really depends on where you are and how worried it makes you before re-transmitting if no reply heard. If you're in serious trouble, then a broadcast Mayday would be the order of the day.
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Thanks. I don't remember doing an all ships broadcast on my VHF course.
 
SimonFa said:
Thanks. I don't remember doing an all ships broadcast on my VHF course.
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I'm a bit surprised, but only a little. On my old style VHF course, taught by an RN Radio officer, it was a recommended format for poor visibility situations. Of course, back then, Radar was not common and AIS a distant dream.

BTW Ch16 isn't as daft as it sounds.Sailfree sends out a spreadsheet of all the vessels to everyone the week we go and this includes callsigns and departure locations and times, where he knows. You could always make a "Calling scuttlebutt" shout instead of an "all ships" or a named vessel.
 
Topcat47 said:
"All Ships x 3 followed by "this is Yacht ???" x 3 then it's all down to you. I gave my position, cog & sog from the gps and a short description of my problem, then waited for a reply. Pretty standard stuff from your VHF course. It really depends on where you are and how worried it makes you before re-transmitting if no reply heard. If you're in serious trouble, then a broadcast Mayday would be the order of the day.
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If you get no reply from an all ships call, how will a Mayday get through?
I would like to think, doing a channel crossing that somewhere there is a ship in radio range. Even if it can't help it would be able to relay the message to someone who can.
 
I've just discovered that we now can't come on the cross channel jaunt as Pete has to take The Boy up to Bristol to start university on the Sunday. We're both gutted, were really looking forward to it.

:(

Hopefully next year then, but we'll certainly be looking to do a cross channel thing before then.

I will be reading this thread with great envy from now on!
 
Topcat47 said:
I'm a bit surprised, but only a little. On my old style VHF course, taught by an RN Radio officer, it was a recommended format for poor visibility situations. Of course, back then, Radar was not common and AIS a distant dream.
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Just because I don't remember doesn't mean it wasn't covered. Our instructor was a long retired merchant marine engineer who had plenty of tales and he was ncouraged by some class mates.
 
Mayday is an imperative. All ships is optional. A radio operator should log a Mayday and try to respond if no-one else does. My "all ships" message would be ignored by one who was not in the immediate vicinity, even if they heard it.
 
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