Come on - Please Help Me Out Here

Re: MCA spending money like water

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Now the MCA has been tasked to find out how, why and when machinery failures are taking place on everything from commercial ships to leisure craft - from supertankers to jet skis.

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Could this be just another 'important survey' drummed up by some jobsworth in the depths of the MCA, to keep himself looking busy and doing important work? They only need to ask the Nautical Institute for info on some of the reliable academic research done over the years into commercial issues. Every professional mariner knows why things break down.

Equally, the RNLI 'statistics' are highly suspect. Take the example of the widely-held view that 'multihulls capsize frequently', which shaped opinion over a couple of decades. The RYA's Training Manager and Cruising Manager both believed without question the RNLI info on the number of catamaran capsizes each year. They, in turn, pointed journalists to the scanty RNLI database annual summaries - who then wrote up lurid warnings in IPC magazines. Hence the widely-held British view that catamarans were unsafe cruising boats. Meanwhile, the French built hundreds of 'em for charter fleets.

When the RNLI stats were actually examined in individual detail, it was found that virtually all the multihull incidents, over many years, which required an RNLI service were to dinghy-cats such as Hobies and Darts, not cruisers at all.

How come? Whoever had designed the form that Hon Secs complete and forward to Poole, after a 'shout', had only one category for Type of Vessel - Multihull. So everything with more than one hull - dayboats to ocean racers - got lumped together. Even catamaran racing powerboats.......

Similarly, there's a category for 'Lives Saved'. Many stations enter into this *all* the non-RNLI individuals involved in a 'shout', regardless of degree of hazard. The precautionary removal of one crewman with a heart murmer was escalated into '6 Lives Saved'. Even escorting a competent, well-crewed sailboat with some hull damage into harbour under own command counted as 'Lives Saved'......

These stats are used by various interests to lobby government for change - to MCA budgets, in regard to the case for regulation, to inform on the need for changes to shipping law.

The available information is roundly abused, and now that a certain prominent journalist sails a catamaran, perhaps we'll see less lurid headlines in IPC publications, and a little more incisive questioning of such stuff.

Meanwhile, the MCA spend money like water. Only a couple of years ago, my friends and I were way-laid at the SIBS by some 'young and lovelies' hired at some expense from a marketing agency, who wanted to recruit us into answering some questions. No, it wasn't another credit card scheme. We were shepherded into the big hotel there, and into a hired conference room, plyed with coffee and biscuits ( thanks ) and a professional psychologist led a discussion for an hour on 'why we went sailing' - a comprehensive survey for the MCA! At the end of this, he paid us each £20 for talking about sailing, and we headed off, chortling, to the Guinness stand!

But that was all public money........ And why did they need to ask those questions? Didn't they already know?


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Re: MCA spending money like water

whilat I would not disagree with what you have said I believe it is important to look beyond the stats to the reasons they are being presented (by the RNLI and others) this way.

if the stats were thinned down so that only lives saved at sea were really included, and all training was just that, you would see relatively few lives saved and a lot of training.

If as a result of that you lost the scale of the RNLI you wold see more fatalities appear and you would also see some appear that shouldn't actually have occured but did - those previously covered as training where another contributory factor arrived and a drama became a crisis (but help wasn't on hand).

So the reported stats maintain a status quo that people are used to - I can live with that.

On the other hand when the stats try and move into other areas such as training and competence I also agree they will be found wanting.
 
Re: MCA spending money like water

You may be missing the point.....

If stats are misleading, then the views and conclusions well-meaning peeps reach can preclude effective action on important issues.

While not intending a rant about multihulls, in the example quoted, it only became apparent that dinghy-cats were 'swelling' and distorting the figures after individual Rescue Record report sheets were pulled and examined one-by-one. This also hid the relatively important 'spike' that almost all the cruising cat incidents - in UK and other Euro waters - that were capable of later investigation had occurred to quite inexperienced charter and 'scratch' crews, who had inadequate understanding of when to reef and what happens if you don't.

That awareness led directly to an embryo Stability Requirement in the RCD and the two decades of complex work which produced an ISO Standard for Multihull Stability. It also led to lots of designers arguing which of their creations was more stable than the other guy's.....

So, in my book, it is important to squeeze the truth out of 'stats' so that useful things can be done - not abdicate on the basis that everyone else is just as ignorant of the truth, so it doesn't matter.
 
Twice in one season! Neither preventable and both solved myself. The first the ignition switch failed internally, no engine start, sailed on to a vacant mooring and figured out how to hot wire a diesel while waiting for tide. The second was an air lock in me diesel and finding the manual lift pump on my fuel pump had failed since the last time of using, sailed back to my mooring had a brew and fixed it. Thing is both occasions gave me the most satisfying sails of the season... Danger zero, sense of achievement for a relative novice= massive.

If someone somewhere wants to judge me for this. bugger 'em!
 
Re: MCA spending money like water

agree

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in my book, it is important to squeeze the truth out of 'stats' so that useful things can be done

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it's the headline stats that tend to result in inappropriate kneejerk reactions and the detail that gets lost
 
Glad to hear it! Hope you enjoy it as much as me and the lad did /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Think up some real tough questions for Tony /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Rick
 
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