Brisbane Star sailing boat towed back to the solent

[Barr Avel]

YBW news item.

Personally have mixed feelings about this. The Panpan was justified, but the RNLI tow? I do not know exactly how little wind there was, but would have thought a sailing school boat should have tried to stick it out and cope with the weather conditions... But then I wasn't there and do not know all the facts...

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Not sure I agree..... no place to be adrift in limited visibility..... although, I might have tried the tender alongside option first... depends where they were in the TSS I guess....

 

[Barr Avel]

Yes I suppose. Having given it more thought I guess the MCA's call was justified if the visibility was poor as well as everything else...

 

[Twister_Ken]

Inaccurate reporting...

...gets my goat.

"The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) praised the actions of the skipper. 'Engine failure may not always be grounds for initiating a rescue of a sail boat,' it said, 'but with the combination of no wind, poor visibility and drifting in a particularly hazardous area such as the traffic separation scheme , the crew were rightly justified to be concerned and raise the alarm.'"

Unless the yacht was very lost it was nowhere near a TSS. I don't think Pan Pan was a bad call though.

 

[StugeronSteve]

Don't think I would be too upset at the prospect of a tow in such a situation. Although, I would most certainly have the tender lashed alongside for emergency propulsion, but my 5ltrs of 100/1 mix probably wouldn't get me too far.

 

[bedouin]

There is no TSS on the normal track from Solent to Cherbourg - but there is one a several miles west - if they were in danger of entering that then they were aleady a long way off course.

The skipper was certainly correct to issue a PAN PAN, and I think the Coastguard probably took the right decision in getting them out of there - better safe than sorry.

BTW as a sailing school boat I very much doubt whether they had an outboard for the tender.

 

[Rustyknight]

Without a transcript of the PanPan call, and any subsequent dialogue with the CG, it's hard to see why the skipper of the yacht should get any stick..... especially as some have already mentioned the PanPan call was jsutified.

In most, if not all cases, it's the CG that decides what actions follow...... be it calling out the RNLI, asking other vessels in the area to assist if possible, or just monitoring the situation and see what develops.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Of course, another question is what were they doing out there, in poor viz, no breeze and with a dicky ticker?

Or what had gone so badly wrong with the ticker that they didn't have the tools/spares aboard to fix it?

 

[Barr Avel]

I agree that the PanPan was entirely justified.

As an aside, am I right in thinking that had they been in French waters they would have been charged by the SNSM for the tow?

 

[Twister_Ken]

Standing Corrected

On going to the horse's mouth it seems that the yacht was actually on passage Cherbourg-Weymouth and was either very close to, or in, the Casquests TSS.

 

[graham]

Re: Standing Corrected

In clear vis I think I would have been tempted to sit it out and wait for a breeze but in poor vis I hope I would be able to swallow my pride and ask for assistance.

 

[GazzaUK]

Re: Standing Corrected

Entirely agree............sounds like a good piece of skippering to me...

 

[steve_cronin]

I suspect that.....

.... as this yacht was a potential hazard to itself and other (commercial) traffic in the TSS, the policy of RNLBs to "drag 'em to the edge of the motorway out of harm's way" was put into operation.

Much better to dent their seafaring pride than to look on whilst they played at being "real seafarers getting themselves out of trouble by self reliance" in dangerous situations that needn't be occurring.

Good sense decision IMO

Steve cronin

 

[Talbot]

The last sentence says it all:
[ QUOTE ]
'Engine failure may not always be grounds for initiating a rescue of a sail boat,' it said, 'but with the combination of no wind, poor visibility and drifting in a particularly hazardous area such as the traffic separation scheme, the crew were rightly justified to be concerned and raise the alarm.'


[/ QUOTE ]

 

[totopalm]

Re: Standing Corrected

Totally correct call by the skipper, and the CG, once again
thanks to RNLI. Never mind about TSS lanes, any time iwas
drifting powerless in the Channel, i would issue a pan pan
tout suite

 

[Barr Avel]

Ok so let's look at it this way. Would set out to cross the channel without your principal means of propulsion, ie wind? Is it good seamanship? I am not commenting on this case in particular as I do not know the facts. I am now looking at a hypothetical case. You are in Cherbourg, planning to go back to the Solent, the forecast says no wind, low visibility. What do you do?

I guess it will depend on how you use your engine and whether you think it is fine to rely on it for passage making...

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Can't see how setting off with the engine needed is any different to what moboers do every time they set foot on the boat.....

 

[Mirelle]

Good point. In my case, our speed under power alone is so derisory (say, three knots) that I probably would not set off in a flat calm, but that is a special case.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Hee Hee... my sympathies... we manage just over 4kts... positively rocket like!

 

[Barr Avel]

Except that a lot of mobos have two engines don't they? I am probably influenced by the fact that I have a small engine on my boat, and I wouldn't want to push it for 12 hours...