3 "Mayday" calls today in the Solent/Isle of Wight

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

After an overnight sail to the Isle of Wight, this morning I was sailing out from Cowes and I heard the first Man Over Board Mayday call; this was the lost person from the cruise ship Ventura.

Then two more, one yacht lost power and the other was taking water. Unfortunately, the MOB has not been found yet. Busy day for the Solent Coastguard.

 

[Lucky Duck]

The mayday from the boat which had apparently been hit while anchored somewhere in the vicinity of Cowes was interesting along with the subsequent conversations on ch 67

 

[derekgillard]

N

The mayday from the boat which had apparently been hit while anchored somewhere in the vicinity of Cowes was interesting along with the subsequent conversations on ch 67

I heard the conversation the skippers of the two boats that hit each other were having their own conversation and exchanging mobile numbers on 67 very odd,they were allowed to continue.

 

[LadyInBed]

I heard the conversation the skippers of the two boats that hit each other were having their own conversation and exchanging mobile numbers on 67 very odd,they were allowed to continue.

Seems a sensible way to allow for further contact by phone.

 

[jerrytug]

Seems a sensible way to allow for further contact by phone.

Yes indeed, although a purist might suggest another channel meant for the purpose.

 

[Lucky Duck]

In my modest time in the Solent this year I have heard at least two people nominate 67 as their intended working channel

 

[Minchsailor]

......one yacht lost power......

Why does loss of power in the Solent justify a 'mayday'.? I see that yesterday the wind was NEly, about a F4, so plenty to sail to anywhere where help could be available, then a tow into harbour/marina from a friendly passing boat.

Even if it was a power boat a 'Pan-Pan' would have been more than sufficient.

 

[ShinyShoe]

67 will be recorded ;-)

 

[ShinyShoe]

Why does loss of power in the Solent justify a 'mayday'.?

Even if it was a power boat a 'Pan-Pan' would have been more than sufficient.

In the Solent a broken fingernail can generate a mayday.

 

[ripvan1]

The " loss of power " boat had no sails on - towed into Langstone and as of last night sitting on Hayling ferry (that was) pontoon.

 

[prv]

The " loss of power " boat had no sails on

Still not a "grave and imminent danger to life" though . Anchor and call for a tow.

Pete

 

[l'escargot]

Still not a "grave and imminent danger to life" though . Anchor and call for a tow.

Pete

Depends where you are, could be and wouldn't suggest that course of action in the main channel off Cowes...

 

[rotrax]

Why does loss of power in the Solent justify a 'mayday'.? I see that yesterday the wind was NEly, about a F4, so plenty to sail to anywhere where help could be available, then a tow into harbour/marina from a friendly passing boat.

Even if it was a power boat a 'Pan-Pan' would have been more than sufficient.

We had exactly that situation just shy of the Needles Channel-fuel tank decided to block at the tap. I blew down the line with the dinghy pumpand distincly heard the air bubbling into the tank.

Shortly after the engine quit again and I checked the output of the lift pump and jumped to the delusion that that was U/S.

In fact, blowing down the pipe had pushed the debris back into the tank where shortly afterwards it found its way back into the choke point at the tap.

No MAYDAY, no PAN-PAN, just a conversation with Solent Coastguard advising them that our transit of the Needles Passage was making us aprehensive under sail only with a North Easter varying from flat calm to 20 knts in a yacht that was not close winded-if indeed we could actually get to the Needles Channel in the prevailing conditions. The safe water mark was N,S E and W of us in the hour or so we tried to make progress.

The Coastguard put out an all ships asking if any vessel could assist. The Sail Training Vessel Maybe was anchored off Yarmouth and called to say it would assist.

The tide was about to flood, the wind was very light or gone and we tacked back and forth trying to make progress. Maybe arrived and stood by during the later part of our attempts to make progress.

When it was clear it was a no go Maybe's Skipper Steve suggested they towed us into a safe haven.

A towline was passed-a light heaving line with a wonderfull Turks Head joined to the towline.

I made it fast to both forward cleats and Maybe began the tow. Once through the Hurst Narrows Maybe suggested East Cowes as the safe haven as that is where they were bound. We agreed.

In the Medina Maybe hove the tow short, we turned inside them and made fast our Starboard side to their port side and Maybe turned into their berth on an East Cowes Marina hammerhead.

Superb ship handling by Steve, superb deck work by Chris and crew plus the trainees on Maybe.

I was tempted to nick the Turks Head-it really was lovely! I passed a case of beer over the rail to Chris and the following morning they told me it went down well.

I fixed a direct gravity feed from our 12 litre outboard tank direct to the engine filter and return, which got us to our club marina in Gosport where I sorted the blockage once and for all-a collection of what looked like fused together carpet fibres about 3 inches long overall had cleared the outlet pipe from the tank-9/16 inch ID-but had blocked the choke point at the tap-less than 1/4 inch ID. That will not happen again!

Thank you Maybe and crew and thank you Solent Coastguard. Despite some voiced critism on here after the Coastguard reorganisation the contact and response was first class.

We had been on passage from Cherbourg, could not sail to the E end of the IOW so decided to sail to the W end-which we achieved.

Untill the engine stopped all was well, but there was no way our boat-no matter how well handled-could make progress against the wind
in that area. Our fallback plan was to take the tide E to the Bembridge Ledge mark and then to Gosport.

Fist Mate was very tired-we had been up since 5 am and it was now 8 pm and our passage was in F5-6 winds with a short lumpy sea-as it often is in the Channel with an Easterly. It was sods law that the wind kept shifting N as we progressed. Speaking with the Coastguard, making it clear we were in no imminent danger but were apprehensive was the right call.

By the way, Maybe is a 78 foot on deck gaff ketch, 98 feet overall.

I cannot overemphasise the superb ship handling os Steve and his crew-Thank You once again!

 

[charles_reed]

The " loss of power " boat had no sails on - towed into Langstone and as of last night sitting on Hayling ferry (that was) pontoon.

He has my sympathy - I was making my way from Cartagena to the French Med coast to get a replacement for the mast which had fatigue-fractured off Cabo Gata when I got a 1 ton polybag round the screw as the tramontana started to blow.
It took CROSS 23' to answer my Pan-Pan - by which time I had made arrangements to get under way, finally making it to Port Argeles with very brown trousers.
My memory is that "Mayday" should only be used when boat or life are in imminent danger.
By that criteria none of the calls were justified.

 

[pmagowan]

He has my sympathy - I was making my way from Cartagena to the French Med coast to get a replacement for the mast which had fatigue-fractured off Cabo Gata when I got a 1 ton polybag round the screw as the tramontana started to blow.
It took CROSS 23' to answer my Pan-Pan - by which time I had made arrangements to get under way, finally making it to Port Argeles with very brown trousers.
My memory is that "Mayday" should only be used when boat or life are in imminent danger.
By that criteria none of the calls were justified.

Except the MOB surely!

 

[doris]

He has my sympathy - I was making my way from Cartagena to the French Med coast to get a replacement for the mast which had fatigue-fractured off Cabo Gata when I got a 1 ton polybag round the screw as the tramontana started to blow.
It took CROSS 23' to answer my Pan-Pan - by which time I had made arrangements to get under way, finally making it to Port Argeles with very brown trousers.
My memory is that "Mayday" should only be used when boat or life are in imminent danger.
By that criteria none of the calls were justified.

Without actually being there its very difficult to pass judgement as to whether there was any justification for the mayday, however how many times have we been told that the SAR services would rather be called out unjustifiably than be called to collect a body.

 

[ShinyShoe]

first Man Over Board Mayday call; this was the lost person from the cruise ship Ventura.

Then two more, one yacht lost power and the other was taking water.

The mayday from the boat which had apparently been hit while anchored somewhere in the vicinity of Cowes was interesting along with the subsequent conversations on ch 67

I assume this was the boat that was taking in water? or was this a different incident?

He has my sympathy -

My memory is that "Mayday" should only be used when boat or life are in imminent danger.
By that criteria none of the calls were justified.

Well firstly the only person who can decide if its a Mayday is the skipper. So unless you were there I'm not sure its correct to say none were justified.

By my definitions - EVERY MOB other than during a sailing dinghy capsize or from a Jetski or some other situation where you basically go out expecting to go for a swim and self recover is a MAYDAY until proven otherwise. I'd far rather be calling abck five minutes later to cancel the mayday and stop the chopper taking off than deciding to escalate.

A boat taking on water - impossible to know without being there if the boat was at risk of being lost. The fact it might not have been lost could be as much to do with the Mayday and being offered assistance, as with the vessel never having been at risk.

The boat with loss of power. Yes in 90+% of occasions a boat looses power thats not going to be a 'genuine' Mayday. However, plenty of situations arise where a boat looses power and then does become in grave and imminent danger. While I find it frustrating and would almost certainly be p$$$d off if my Mayday for a MOB etc was interrupted by a Mayday for a loss of power, sometimes even though the current location of a boat doesn't place it in obvious immediate danger the fact that the crew are flapping and have forgotten they have an anchor that will stop them drifting into danger does IN FACT mean the current situation could justify a Mayday and while they may think the assistance they need is a tow the actual assistance they need is a few words of wisdom from the CG to deploy their anchor. Once anchored they are then asked by the CG if they would like to reduce the severity to a Pan or otherwise.
(Same arguement may apply to a boat taking on water advice rather than assets.)

If you read MAIB reports you'll see plenty where there is a delay notifying CG or where there never appears to have been notification. Hard to argue people need to be keener to notify and then criticise those who do with good intent. At my work part of our fire training is that if we break a break glass call point maliciously we loose our job. If we break it believing or suspecting there is a fire and it turns out we were wrong and the smell of smoke was coming from the building next door burning garden waste we get a pat on the back...

 

[Lucky Duck]

I assume this was the boat that was taking in water? or was this a different incident?

I don't recall the collision incident involving any water ingress so I suspect they were separate incidents

 

[prv]

If you read MAIB reports you'll see plenty where there is a delay notifying CG or where there never appears to have been notification.

Usually that's cos the entire crew of Ukrainians was either pissed or asleep, and after waking up the next morning they're hoping they can wiggle the ship off the sandbank before anyone notices

Pete

 

[Twister_Ken]

I was making my way from Cartagena to the French Med coast

Spanish, surely?