Buzzed in the Channel

AIDY

AIDY

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We sailed back from france yesterday to pompey. Whilst mid channel about 5 miles east of EC1 we were buzzed by an official looking chopper. We could see it coming at us very low from about a mile off. on approach it looked like only to be two mast heights above us. It circled us we passed a friendly wave and he was off. I was more worried at the time of the down draft than what he was doing.

Anybody else experienced this. who were they and was it anything to do with recent events. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
not by choppers but Ive been buzzed by Tornado jets a few times.frightens the life out of me as I never see them coming until the noise hits me.

I usually hold up 1 finger to indicate they missed the "target "by 100 meters.
 
Lucky they weren't 200 metres off target. If they missinterpreted your signal they may decide to drop some munitions on you!
 
The one finger is the middle finger /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Got my own back a few years back when a tornado cut it a bit fine and creamed into the water west of Steepholme Island.

Crew were ok ,they politely declined to board the lifeboat but just bobbed around in miniature personal liferafts until a helicopter picked them up.as far as I know the wreckage was never recovered. They had a couple of specialist warships searching the seabed for weeks.

Suspect it settled into the mud/sand and tide born silt quickly buried it.
 
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The one finger is the middle finger /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif


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Ah! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
when brig was over that area, she was boarded and All documentation was checked, they then said, "all OK. and you are now OK in French waters , your on our computer now."

on the way back , we got bused by a customs ship until they could read the name , then just wondered off again.
 
Was buzzed by a chopper at night off Portland Bill two years ago. Came in low and then put a searchlight on us. Half an hour later a strange light combination which kept changing, first a paired trawler gear over port side, then a pilot vessel, then a combination that I couldn't recognise. Just about to call them up when on went their deck lights. Only about half a mile from us. Turned out to be HMS Newcastle.
Same wekend my son was sailing off Plymouth and was stopped by a patrol boat. Apparently there was a terrorist alert and all boats were being checked.
 
Northern Ireland ....

One company I worked for .... Bulk Acid Shipping .... we used to ship Concentrated Sulphuric Acid into a small harbour in entrance to Belfast Lough.

The ship was Liberian registered 1000 ton coastal tanker. We dropped anchor just outside the harbour to wait for tide and Pilot. Royal Navy Minesweeper glided to a halt just off from us and the Zodiac was launched .... about 5 marines and a Black Labrador ....(assumed Lab was the CO !!)
Anyway - it was obvious we were going to be boarded - so I went down to deck to meet them .... they did a 'raiders job' .... full pelt, bow through railings .... dog jumps on deck, marines following behind ..... I'm trying to advise them NOT to do it, or at least stop the dog !!!

We were carrying approx. 980 tons of 97% conc. Sulphuric acid ..... with various 'leaks' onto deck from the swell / weather we had been through .... poor dog was NOT HAPPY having his paws 'burnt' ... so I put on the emerg. shower and they put him under it ..............

The purpose of their visit .... to search us for guns / explosives etc. After they had let the dog sniff around everywhere - we ended up on bridge with a few beers and a chat .... the dog playing with a bren gun ammo case !!! the sound of his teeth on the metal was cringeing !!!!

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Four weeks ago, making passage from Southwold to Grimsby, I was at the helm while my partner slept below (it was 1.00 a.m.). We were just passing a navigation mark in the outer reaches of the Wash, on the recommended track in the almanac, when all hell broke loose. First, two big helicopters made low passes (quite scary in the dark), then two Hercules transporters,or something similar, went over at low altitude (very scary); finally the sea and sky ahead lit up with what looked like tracer rounds, accompanied by the sound of heavy gunfire (even scarier!). I executed a rapid about-turn (!) while my partner got busy on Channel 16. The Coastguard, who was very relaxed, seemed to know nothing about any military activity, and merely asked our position and told us to stand by. After 5 minutes he called back to tell us that the helicopter "knew where we were" (hurrah! but were we a target?). A few minutes later everything went quiet, and we were told it was safe to proceed, CG asking us to report safe arrival at Grimsby. About half an hour later, a big ship, with the same confusing displays of lights referred to above, was circling on our course - more avoiding action required!
We arrived safely in Grimsby, but not a good experience for my partner, on her first night passage. I now have to convince her that this won't happen every time....
 
While sailing from Fecamp to Brighton, a French Customs helicopter turned up about ten miles off the French coast.
It hovered almost at sea level about 50 yds behind us and kept pace with us at about 5 knts. The two man crew didn't respond to a wave but just stared at us for about 5 minutes and then it flew off.
It was extremely unnerving.
 
Couple of years ago, I was on a Yacht sailing along the south coast just east of the IOW. We'd left Ocean Village late on and it must have been about 0100hrs. Skipper & mate in bed and yours truly on watch by myself.

Suddenly saw this white water on port quarter, but no lights. It took me a wee while to decide it was the wake of "something" very fast and coming nearer by the second. Still no lights.

Just about to go below and collect my brown trousers and call the skipper when he switched on a flashing blue light. He kept this on for just a few minutes, then switched it off again. He went screaming past our stern and shot off further out to sea and still with no lights on.

I didn't call the skipper, but I was seriously considering the brown trousers. Didn't half give me a scare ! !
 
I was having a conversation with a Crab-Air brasstop last night who was quite brazen about their hobby of horse buzzing, I'm sure boat buzzing probably carrys the same entertyainment value for them.
 
Whilst photographing the dam at Hawswater a few years ago from a helicopter I was concerned because there had been a recent "near miss" and two Tornados had collided near Appleby as well.
I asked the pilot, who was wearing a white silk scarf, á la Biggles, if he had notified the RAF we were going to be hovering above the reservoir.

"Oh No!" he said " I did that once and it guarantees they'll come and buzz you for a bit of a jolly"
It didn't work terribly well as they still found us, it probably wasn't that close, but as we were doing about 20mph and they were doing about 600mph it was sphincter-tightening.

Later I was in a cradle hanging from the downstream face of the dam about 15 ft below the top. 3 Tornados flew along the reservoir and over the top of the dam about 50 ft up. We didn't hear them until this huge crash of sound and the deafening roar of their exhausts as the climbed away. The guy who was working on the dam wall said "They keep doing that, it's very disconcerting" or words to that effect.

from Windermere Airshow last Sunday...... Yes it's upside down

upsidedown.jpg


tornadof303.jpg
 
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