Ch13 bridge to bridge

[Rob_Webb]

Has anyone actually ever used this to positive effect? Tried it on Fri eve, no joy:

En route P'mouth to B'bridge worried about small tanker leaving solent between forts..... is he gonna pass ahead ot astern?...... F4 on the beam, going like a train with a big quartering swell

5 mins to collision unless somethign changes.... no obvious reason why he shouldn't touch it under my stern..... but no indication he will

4 mins to collision..... before turning onto a dead run and running parallel until he overtakes me decide to try Ch13....... "black tanker leaving eastern solent between the forts I am the white sailing yacht off your port bow, can you please confirm your intentions or wishes?"...... nothing

3mins to collision still no change.... try ch12 in case he's still tuned into VTS.... nothing......

2:30mins to collision ready to take action, but still no indication of change, no warning blast from tanker, intentions still unclear

2:00mins to collision simply turn left onto dead run.... goose-wing for 2 mins of roller-coaster ride whilst tanker slowly overtakes us... turn right back onto orignal course under his stern.

No drama but no real joy out of ch13 either? Never really expected it but thought it was worth a try before taking the usual steps. Definitely not a ch16 siutation as I was in full control etc.

Any thoughts?

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[tcm]

not sure why you didn't feel it worth ch16?

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[snowleopard]

you need to use ch16, the calling channel, for making initial contact or, if you have dsc, an all-ships call on ch70 with 'switch to ch13' selected.

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[qsiv]

Despite all the other worthy replies, I suspect that you would have had better luck if you had called in Fillipino - or almost any languauge other than English...

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[Cornishman]

Could it be that you were not on the bridge of your vessel??

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[TheBoatman]

I've had this happen to me on a number of occasions and find it best to call the VTS directly and ask for help. If you simply try to call the ship VTS are unlikely to answer because your not calling them, however if you do call them they will undoubtably know who the ship is and if they don't answer they get a bo**king<s>

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[Rob_Webb]

Well I thought the whole point of ch13 was that it was direct bridge-to-bridge and avoided the need to go through the ch16 step, taking more time and clogging it up. I didn't feel the situation was remotely urgent and was really trying the ch13 thing out of curiosity. Maybe if we were both outside the solent in open channel waters he might have been on ch16 & 13 and maybe I'd have got joy.

If it was a more urgent situation, like I was struggling to avoid him, I'd have been straight onto ch16 - but your hear so much rubbish on it that I didn't feel like the need to add further non-essential traffic. But maybe next time!

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[Jacket]

As I understood it, Ch13 is only for use between ships. If there were no other comercial vessels in sight, maybe he wasn't monitoring the channel, as he wouldn't be expecting a call on it.

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[AndrewB]

Impossibility of speaking to ships

They simply won't reply to yachts. Not round south coast ports anyway, mid Atlantic may be different. That does not mean they haven't heard. If you need to communicate, the only practical way is to go through the CG.

This reminds me of an exchange we overhead on ch 16 in the crowded waters of Torbay some years back. One yacht was getting increasingly agitated by a coaster that appeared to be getting closer.

"Ship X, this is yacht Y on your starboard bow, what are your intentions please."

"Ship X, this is yacht Y, we are ahead of you, have you seen us?"

"Ship X, this is yacht Y, we are the white yacht dead ahead, what are you doing, I need to know which way to turn!"

"BRIXHAM CG THIS IS YACHT Y, SHIP X IS ABOUT TO RUN US DOWN!!!"

"Ship X, this is Brixham CG, are you aware of yacht Y in your viscinity"

"Brixham CG this is ship X, we have been made very aware of yacht Y, and if they were more aware of us, they might have noticed we are at anchor."

 

[DeeGee]

Re: Impossibility of speaking to ships

Nice one, Andrew...

But on this Ch 13 thing. Surely, you have to set up the call on Ch 16 first? There is nothing that suggests ships should keep a listening watch on 13. It is certainly the case in the future that the only way will be on DSC, and I hope we are not going to get that horrible noise for every tom dick to make an all ships whenever they get twitchy?

Anyway, with ships, rather than little boats (that includes me and you) I throw ColRegs away and take it upon me to avoid them, esp in the dark!!

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[Gordonmc]

I raised this on R2R a couple of weeks ago with Mike Martin who responded by saying ships "should" listen on 13 as well as 16.

It followed an encounter with a ferry which came fast out of port as I was on St'bd tack at right angles to his route. There was no response on 13 so I spoke to him direct on 16 and informed him of intention to turn toward his stern. I had no time to go to a working channel.

I got an acknowlegement but expected a rollocking from CG (which never came).

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[Rob_Webb]

I recently did a refresher VHF course (long story) and understood that ch13 was supposed to be monitored as well as ch16 and maybe a pilot channel (e.g.09) if relevant. Whole point is to avoid clogging ch16. Also, I understood 'bridge-to-bridge' to be used in the losest term i.e. I don't need to be another ship literally but simply another vessel. I've learned not to rely on this and next time will simply use ch16 directly even though it goes against my original understanding.

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