Another one for the forum accident investigation board.

I am a bit Hasler and don't expect to get rescued. BUT, if it all goes twits up, I would likely welcome a reply to a call... As it did some local friends a few years ago after capsizing.. No VHF, just set off flares after it was clear they could not recover. Local ferry saw them... and called the rescue mob.
 
DownWest said:
I am a bit Hasler and don't expect to get rescued. BUT, if it all goes twits up, I would likely welcome a reply to a call... As it did some local friends a few years ago after capsizing.. No VHF, just set off flares after it was clear they could not recover. Local ferry saw them... and called the rescue mob.
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I am sure nobody wants to be rescued. If we weren’t intrinsically self reliant, we’d all take up tiddly winks, not boating. The landlubbers commiseration ‘worse things happen at sea’ is very true. You can still be grateful that when sh1t happens there’s someone a lot better than ghostbusters to call.
 
The one time I've been rescued, we decided that the easterly F7 was a bit much to race our 20 footer, so we put her back on the mooring. As we left, the prop caught something and the shear pin broke. I tried to row back, but on a fast falling tide, we were blown onto the mud a couple of hundred yards from the shore. We called the club to let them know what happened and settled down to wait for some water. The club called QHM, and QHM called the local inshore lifeboat. We were eventually lifted off by helicopter - most embarrassing, as it was in full view of the club on a Sunday afternoon. We were both very glad to be ashore, because we were dressed adequately for a race, when we're active, but not for sitting in a tiny Tupperware dinghy in an October blow.

Lives saved? Probably not, though I reckon we'd have been pretty hypothermic if we had sat it out, and my skipper was 80, so really didn't need that, but assistance given, and gratefully received
 
Stemar said:
The one time I've been rescued, we decided that the easterly F7 was a bit much to race our 20 footer, so we put her back on the mooring. As we left, the prop caught something and the shear pin broke. I tried to row back, but on a fast falling tide, we were blown onto the mud a couple of hundred yards from the shore. We called the club to let them know what happened and settled down to wait for some water. The club called QHM, and QHM called the local inshore lifeboat. We were eventually lifted off by helicopter - most embarrassing, as it was in full view of the club on a Sunday afternoon. We were both very glad to be ashore, because we were dressed adequately for a race, when we're active, but not for sitting in a tiny Tupperware dinghy in an October blow.

Lives saved? Probably not, though I reckon we'd have been pretty hypothermic if we had sat it out, and my skipper was 80, so really didn't need that, but assistance given, and gratefully received
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That is a problem for the people deciding what level of assistance is needed....each person decides that it needs to go to a higher authority just in case....after all, who wants to be responsible for making the tragic mistake
 
"We were eventually lifted off by helicopter - most embarrassing, as it was in full view of the club on a Sunday afternoon."
See for me this is the problem and its all to do with the spectre of litigation. Officialdom is terrified of making a mistake or being seen not be perfoming to par in fear of being taken to the cleaners, meaning we now have this environment where all problems are managed with the swing of the sledgehammer.
There's an old seafaring saying... "one hand for yourself and one for the ship" Not something one hears very much today and of course feeds into the idea that when at sea you and you alone must prevail. But of course that does not preclude any reason not to call for help.
But the danger with all this is the slow erosion of ones natural sense of self preservation. How not to get in a pickle, how to make decisions that keep you safe, and what should one do when it all goes south... and so on and so on.
 
In situations like that, there’s not just the ‘play it safe’ factor, but getting the kit out, and trying it out, ie training and familiarisation for the emergency services. You may not ‘need’ rescuing, but it’s a good thing for the service to do one every so often. The embarrassment factor, look at that as taking one for the team. The next lot of rescuees might be much more grateful than embarrassed.
 
winch2 said:
"We were eventually lifted off by helicopter - most embarrassing, as it was in full view of the club on a Sunday afternoon."
See for me this is the problem and its all to do with the spectre of litigation. Officialdom is terrified of making a mistake or being seen not be perfoming to par in fear of being taken to the cleaners, meaning we now have this environment where all problems are managed with the swing of the sledgehammer.
There's an old seafaring saying... "one hand for yourself and one for the ship" Not something one hears very much today and of course feeds into the idea that when at sea you and you alone must prevail. But of course that does not preclude any reason not to call for help.
The danger with all this is the slow erosion of ones natural sense of self preservation. How not to get in a pickle, how to make decisions that keep you safe, and what to do when it all goes south... and so on and so on.
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That is piffle, to a lifeboat crew.
 
Well obviously not the crew but the management, decision makes.. yes... Give people an inch today and they really will take a mile, (excluding that is my good self of course!)
 
winch2 said:
"We were eventually lifted off by helicopter - most embarrassing, as it was in full view of the club on a Sunday afternoon."
See for me this is the problem and its all to do with the spectre of litigation. Officialdom is terrified of making a mistake or being seen not be perfoming to par
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To expand a bit, GAFIRS tried to tow us off the mud, but it was a Tupperware dinghy, and it just started to fold up when tension went on the line, so they had a think and a chat with the CG, and they asked us if we would mind being lifted off, as there was a helicopter in the air, en route from Brighton to Yeovilton. The point was made that it was useful training, but I can't remember if it was the LB crew or the helicopter crew, when I expressed my gratitude and embarrassment at needing them.

Wading ashore through the mud was not an option, as anyone who knows Portsmouth mud can testify, and it was cold enough that waiting for four hours would have been, at best, very unpleasant so, all in all, I'd say that each step of the escalation was the right one. If the helicopter hadn't already been in the air, everyone might have tried to find another solution, but I'm not sure what that would have been.
 
Bouba said:
One of the crew was 80....things can go south very quickly at that age
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And you mentioned hypothermia. That is NOT a minor matter at any age, and more so for the elderly. Being warmed from hypothermia puts enormous strain on the heart; the most dangerous part of treating hypothermia is rewarming the patient. If I've understood it correctly, warming a patient too quickly opens the surface blood vessels, diverting blood supply from essential organs and putting a sudden strain on the heart.
 
Juan Twothree said:
CG mud team possibly?
They can go up to 400m from shore across mud.
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Yes, that's how they got to us - the closest the RIB could get was around 75m. A young man of seriously sold build came to us with a kayak to help keeping him from sinking into the mud, but he was puffing and panting by the tike he got to us. Him getting across the mud was one thing, getting a couple of old farts across is would have been quite another.
Poignard said:
Using the RNLI's fuel instead of your own to get you into port; what's not to like?
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Personally, I'd far rather be in a position to use my own. My RNLI Offshore subscription, like my car breakdown insurance, is in the fervent hope that it will prove to be a total waste of money for me.
 
Stemar said:
Yes, that's how they got to us - the closest the RIB could get was around 75m. A young man of seriously sold build came to us with a kayak to help keeping him from sinking into the mud, but he was puffing and panting by the tike he got to us. Him getting across the mud was one thing, getting a couple of old farts across is would have been quite another.
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SOP is that they walk out to you towing a mud sled behind them.
They then get you to sit in it and winch you back to terra firma.
 
In this day an age they could send a guide wire over by drone....which you then pull an ever increasingly large rope and then tow you back in the water. Saves anyone walking in mud at low tide which can be extremely dangerous
 
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