Another VHF post.

[Big-Bang1]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you radio the CG with passage details when just out for a quick jolly? I know people who are belt and braces and radio every time the boat puts it's bow out the harbour and others who only radio if they are going to cross the channel - but who's right??

 

[alan_d]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you radio the CG with passage details when just out for a quick jolly? I know people who are belt and braces and radio every time the boat puts it's bow out the harbour and others who only radio if they are going to cross the channel - but who's right??

I think you might possibly get more information if you asked your question in the form of a poll. Also, your question implies that if most people do something it must be right, which is questionable. (c.f. use of motoring cone.)

To start you off, I have never filed a passage report with the Coastguard but would consider doing so if I was doing something unusually adventurous (for me) such as heading for St Kilda.

 

[prv]

Out for a quick jolly? Well, the Coastguard as a matter of policy would never officially discourage someone from calling them, but I'm quite sure that really they don't want to hear from you if you're just popping from Cowes to Lymington or whatever your local equivalent is.

Personally I can't really see the point of informing them even if I'm going further afield, because they (quite rightly) don't take any overdue action based on those reports. And if my mum gets worried that I haven't phoned her from Cherbourg or Alderney, and calls the Coastguard, she can tell them right then where I was going and when. The more intricate details about the boat that a shore contact might not know, can be stored in the CG66 system, which I think is worthwhile. But, unlike the first category, I wouldn't actively sneer at those who do file a plan for longer trips.

Pete

 

[l'escargot]

I think hardly anyone ever posts passage details with the CG these days. I think I once heard one some years ago letting the CG know he was heading X channel but that was an exception. I doubt whether they would be amused with being advised of every trans Solent crossing on a busy weekend...

Bit of a pointless exercise as they take no action unless someone else phones up and reports you overdue/missing.

 

[prv]

I doubt whether they would be amused with being advised of every trans Solent crossing on a busy weekend...

I did genuinely once hear someone filing his "passage plan" from Lymington to Yarmouth. The Coastguard were polite, but managed to inject a strong note of "why on earth are you bothering?" - which I'm not sure he noticed. Since he wasn't on CG66, the whole palaver took so long that if he'd started the conversation at the Lymington race cabin in a fair-sized yacht, he'd have practically completed the "voyage" before he'd finished announcing his intention to start it

Pete

 

[JumbleDuck]

To start you off, I have never filed a passage report with the Coastguard but would consider doing so if I was doing something unusually adventurous (for me) such as heading for St Kilda.

I once heard a posh voice file a very long and detailed plan with Oban Coastguard for a voyage from Ardinamir to Craobh on a warm, sunny summer's day.

Note to foreigners: they are in sight of each other, just a few miles apart.

 

[William_H]

Just as a matter of interest the government here (West Australia) have passed off all pleasure boat safety and rescue to volunteer organisations. The gov. slip some cash to the organisations. So any pl;easure boater is encouraged to advise at departure an intrended destination and an expected arrival time. yes they will institute action if you are overdue your arrival.
If as most do you "join" the organisation for 20 squid a year they issue a call sign and store all relavent details of you and your boat. You call on a working channel not 16. The operators are well trained volunteers who are eager to set up a SAR watch. For members they offer a tow home service while to non members they offer a tow to nearest safety. Obviously the voyage details are not advised for sheltered water cruises. It all works well and they do work in conjunction with water police and air sea rescue.

 

[chuzzlewit]

I once asked a coast guard officer at the Southampton boat show this question as I was soon sailing from Poole to Cherbourg. He said it was simpler if I just told a friend in England to expect a phone call from me by a certain time.

 

[Spirit of Glenans]

The Irish Sailing Association, in conjunction with the Irish Coastguard, has just launched a Smartphone/android app to address this problem. It's called SafeTrx and seems to have been originally designed by/for the US Coastguard. Perhaps the RYA could follow suit. See the ISA one here; sailing.ie/SafeTrx

 

[prv]

The Irish Sailing Association, in conjunction with the Irish Coastguard, has just launched a Smartphone/android app to address this problem

What problem?

Pete

 

[oldvarnish]

Bit of a pointless exercise as they take no action unless someone else phones up and reports you overdue/missing.

But that's exactly the point. If you are reported overdue, the CG would at least know you had set off. They can then start to search the ocean rather than the pubs.

 

[RAI]

But that's exactly the point. If you are reported overdue, the CG would at least know you had set off. They can then start to search the ocean rather than the pubs.

So who is going to report you overdue? Could they not also report where you are overdue, plus other info? And if no one is programmed to report you overdue, are the CG supposed to do something? But then I never tell the CG where I am going, especially as I often change my mind.

 

[2nd_apprentice]

On my round Scotland trip the skipper informed the CG of every five hour hop up the coast. It did feel like a bit of a waste of (their) time to me! In some cases contacting VTS or port authorities was a sensible thing to do however. Other than that we seemed to be the only ones

 

[Ripster]

I follow the same sort of rule as many others probably do and only contact the CG when doing a longer passage (rare for me) of say over 50 miles (in my case) or when going well offshore. The CG have always been polite and just asked me to call when I arrive or let them know any changes.

 

[prv]

And if no one is programmed to report you overdue, are the CG supposed to do something?

No. They quite clearly say that they won't. I'm sure in exceptional circumstances they would use some initiative, but as a general policy they simply note such reports in the watch log and then forget about them.

Pete

 

[[70521]]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you radio the CG with passage details when just out for a quick jolly? I know people who are belt and braces and radio every time the boat puts it's bow out the harbour and others who only radio if they are going to cross the channel - but who's right??

A quick jolly - contact at home has the rough plan of where we are going and a drop dead call in time (usually before the pub closes).

 

[KenMcCulloch]

The recent cuts to the coastguard service underline the importance of demonstrating demand. My main sailing area (W Scotland) has gone from having 3 CG stations of its own (Clyde, Oban and Stornoway) to one plus a share of Belfast's attention in a couple of decades. Since the CG keep a log of all calls there is merit in making 'Transit Reports' even when they are not strictly called for on immediate safety grounds. The more traffic the CG deal with the better the case for retaining or even enhancing the service.
My own practice is to make such calls on the basis of judgments that take account of the weather, size and capacity of crew etc. as well as the nature of the passage itself. Thus I would be unlilkely in any circumstances to tell the CG I was going from Kerrera to Puilldobhrain; a passage from say Tobermory to Barra might get a call depending on weather, crew etc., and a passage of anything more than a very few miles in bad visibility might also justify a call. In the latter case it might be thought of as also alerting other vessels to one's presence in the general area.

 

[ninky]

Nope.
I also don't call my mum after a bath to let her know I haven't fallen over, hit my head and drowned.
Call me a risk taker...

Nicola

 

[l'escargot]

But that's exactly the point. If you are reported overdue, the CG would at least know you had set off. They can then start to search the ocean rather than the pubs.

You don't think the coastguard are actually going to go out looking on the strength of someone not having reported their arrival? They would know you had set off because person reporting you overdue would tell them. The pubs are probably the best place to start looking though...

 

[ColleyV8]

May be telling people how to suck eggs, but the VHF course I took this weekend tells me this

Please leave your transit reports and passage plans with a contact ashore, if you want to lodge your plan with the coastguard, please email, fax or telephone, rather than using the radio

Regards