Cats,Pigeons&Coastguards!

[BlackSheep]

Sitting here waiting for the next major maritime disaster, thought I'd shove the feline amongst the feathered fiends & see whether anyone had any views - positive or negative - on dealings with HM's finest.......broadcasts.....flares...etc., etc.....?

 

[Chris_Stannard]

I was involved in a rescue, of a single handed sailor who was hit on the head by the boom and was unconcious. It was also thought that he had had a second person on board, who was now missing, although that proved not to be the case. This was in the Hurst Narrows and the boat was in danger of going on the Shingles. Solent Coastguards response was swift and positive, and they organised a search for the persumed missing person very quickly and efficiently.

I believe they do an excellent job and was very glad that the Solent Coastguard was not cclosed

Chris Stannard

 

[BlackSheep]

Thanks Chris,
Good to know there's at least one satisfied customer out there!!

 

[Guest]

Hey Blacksheep.
Do you get fed up with "Radio Check Please"?

 

[dafteddy]

I still miss Ramsey Coastguard (IoM)
They were well clued up, totally professional and LOCAL!!!
In this case, local included west and east of Eilean Vannin and made all of us out there on dark, wet, cold nights a lot happier.

Red to red and green to green, all is safety, go between!

 

[bigmart]

I have two experiences of our friends the coastguard That worry me a little:

1) A few years ago whilst sailing in the Solent a large log was spotted. The Skipper of the yacht asked me to report the object to Solent Coastguard as it was a danger to Yachts.

The first question asked by the female radio operator, who seemed to have no knowledge of the local area was. "What direction was it headed in?"

2) Last weekend I was taking my new vessel out of harbour, again in the Solent, when the engine died.

It was near the top of the tide on neaps so I let the boat drift to the safety of the shore and dried out while I fixed the poroblem.

The following morning, some twelve hours later I was disturbed by a shore based Coastguard who had alerted two Lifeboats and the India Juliet Helicopter to search for the crew of my "abandoned" yacht. The fact that I was alive and well and on board seems to have completely escaped him. I should also mention that the site of my grounding was less than five hundred yards from the local Lifeboat Station.

The Lifeboat were extremely helpful and carried my kedge of to deep water for me.

I suppose the point of my complaints would be that, whilst I am pleased that the coastguard service are extremely zealous in their attempts at rescue, basic common sense, and knowledge of the local area and conditions, were somewhat lacking in both these incidents.

 

[Chris_Stannard]

Re: Flying feathers

Regarding your point 2. I would rather the guys turned out many times when it was not necessary than miss once when it was.

Incidentally, recently India Juliet, the Solent Rescue helicopter, used my boat as target for a practice highline transfer. Absolutely brilliant and has given my wife great confidence in their ability though I hope we never need them for real. Many thanks guys and if you are ever short of a target call VSON2 and if we are around we would gladly have you do it again.

Chris Stannard

 

[bigmart]

Re: Flying feathers

I quite agree with you. I too would rather they came out without question but I was more concerned about the waste of rescources that could have been saved with the application of a little common sense.

 

[tome]

I had an exteremely nasty experience with HMCG a few years ago. Went aground in Langstone in a RIB in thick fog. Radioded my predicament with "No assistance required" and was then told there was an RNLI exercise in my area, could I call them on 16.

RNLI were great and we all enjoyed the exercise until we pulled into the marina. Waiting for us were the CG with flash cameras who promptly sold the pics to the local rag citing this as an example of a good rescue. Bastards...

 

[Guest]

Like many of the important Government they have been starved of cash over the years which has led to a huge reduction in their numbers, hence the need for the NCI.
Some 30 years experience of the Coastguard Service in the Westcountry has found them to be friendly, efficient, helpful and tolerant of fools!

 

[ParaHandy]

There is some confusion about TRs. I know that up North you welcome them but down here a senior CG officer said a TR is utterly irrelevant - use CG66. But I heard last week somebody transmitting a TR to Solent CG and not getting his head chewed off.

Moving on…….Well, Blacksheep, good to see there’s a CG left up the West coast! You lot at the coal face in the Coastguard Agency are your usual helpful selves. Your bosses worry the bejesus out of me.

The MCA press releases used to be a mine of useful info. Mostly negative, ie what not to do, but very helpful. No longer. Maurice Storey’s career is more important these days. In the blurp last November accompanying the announcement of his honorary degree, Storey’s objective was given by the MCA as combining the UK Regulatory body (Marine Safety Agency) and The Coastguard Agency to form The Maritime and Coastguard Agency and leading it to reversing the decline of the British Shipping Fleet and increasing the number of trades in the industry both ashore and afloat. He’s not short of ambition is he and should he fail to do so, can we expect his resignation and, if so, when?

I don’t know what others feel but I feel very uncomfortable with the direction your organisation is heading. You can see why when you read statements such as MCA are going to target (when enforcing SOLAS) “gin palaces with a gps” and Storey’s (unguarded and contemptuous, I thought) inference about RYA influence (comparing RYA membership to total boat ownership).

Re waiting for maritime disasters - what do your colleagues in the Humber think of ABP and HPL shenanigans?

 

[HMCG]

I am sorry that you feel that your contact with HM Coastguard was so negative but please consider the other side. (I don't know the ins and outs of the incidents so if the following offends then I appologise) In your first example (drifting log) you make it sound obvious what direction the log was travelling. As a coastguard you learn very quickly that things don't always do what you would expect so what may seem like a stupid question has a very good reason.

On the second example, imagine how your family would react if you had been detached from your vessel in the night and it had drifted ashore. If a full rescue was not affected immediately I am sure there would be hell to pay. In many cases the first anyone knows of a single handed yachtsman going overboard is when his yacht is washed ashore and is found high and dry. Maybe in future if you do ground your vessel you could advise the local station so that they know you are not in distress.

Remember a VHF can save your life.

 

[bigmart]

Please don't take my comments too seriously.

It seemed to me that both incidents demonstrated a lack of professionalism but I am very pleased that the Coastguard were there to react.

I really am on your side. It seems to me that lack of funding by Government is reducing the quality of your service.

By the way the reason that I did not use the VHF was that my license application was in the post so my set was not legal for use.

Certainly in the second incident I was extremely embarrased by the amount of attention I had attracted when all I had done was stopped for a sleep on the beach.

 

[ParaHandy]

You might have read the DTLR report on the Humber pilots? Your assessor "monitored the implementation of the contingency plan (and) reported that he was fully satisfied". Did you not have some doubt that, from 22 October to 22 December, pilots trained on coasters ranging from 670dwt to 1021dwt would be sufficiently experienced to handle vessels up to VLS >40,000dwt? 30% of the port's traffic is >5000dwt.

One would hope that you were less than happy with these circumstances. The "gin palaces with a gps" seem rather trivial to the consequences of a VLS in trouble?

 

[Guest]

A humble point of information - I'd be amazed if the 'local rag' paid them a penny, they never have the cash for that sort of thing. More likely that it was a publicity stunt for the CG. This is not to detract at all from your experience - I'd have been pretty pissed off too.

"Whoops... I'm falling in love with narrowboating..."

 

[BlackSheep]

LOL !
can get a little bit repetative - once one starts they all seem to join in! However..would much rather people used the VHF (& if asking for R/C gives the confidence to use it) than we missed one genuine emergency...had a bloke on a charter yacht call up the other day on a mobile phone saying "I've just put out a Pan Pan on ch 16 didn't you hear it?" - simple answer - NO! Turns out that he had an engine failure & was becalmed, but also his transmit was not working on the VHF. If he had really been in the s**t, we might not have known about it until too late! A radio check (to a nearby boat in the marina when he picked up the charter boat) might have picked this up....