Mark-1
Well-known member
This is the story of Bob.
Bob's boat has suffered a fire and sunk quickly a few miles SE of the IOW. Nobody saw it happen.
Bob is in the water in mid April in his LJ with no liferaft.
The water is slightly choppy but by no means rough - F4-5 with a good fetch.
It's daylight but very early morning and there is nobody about.
There are 7 ships in sight, 1 moving, 6 anchored off St Helens.
Bob knows his position relative to a named bouy.
Bob muses on the various bits of kit he has on him to summon help. Some of his thoughts are a little heretical:
Bob deploys his 406mhz PLB. He thinks this will be unlikely to summon help because by the time the CG have checked contacts to see if his transmission is a false alarm and sent help, he'll be dead.
Bob deploys his AIS SART. He thinks it likely nearby vessels will pick it up. However he reckons the CG are out of range and he fears that all the people who receive his position will assume someone else is doing something and nothing will happen. Essentially he fears he's in an area remote enough that officialdom won't hear but busy enough that everyone will assume there are other people better placed to help.
Bob has a handheld VHF. He's found it pretty unreliable at contacting Marinas on CH80 but thinks that's a line of sight issue and is hoping there will be a line of sight to the CG aerial. He thinks the CG aerial will be high up and they might have sensitive kit. He thinks if he can get through to the CG he can confirm he's genuinely in distress and his 406mhz will give them his position. Although he's doubtful the CG will pick up his transmission Bob is actually very optimistic that nearby anchored/passing shipping will be able to pick up his VHF but he has no idea if those ships keep a listening watch on CH16. He also fears the same problem as the AIS SART - it's busy are at a quiet time - they may assume someone else is dealing with the problem and do nothing.
Bob thinks if he has no joy on CH16 that CH11 might be worth a go because all ships should be listening on that and many Yachtsmen will, too.
Bob has his mobile phone on him in an aquapack. Bob's uses his phone in in Kayaks/Dinghies/SUPS so he knows it works from low on the water and he had good signal just before his boat sank. He's never tried it from the water. Bob reckons that the height of mobile phone masts on the IOW means his phone is potentially more likely to have a decent line of sight than his VHF to ships. Unfortunately, Bob's mobile has a touch screen which will be a pig to use in the water. Bob thinks (if he had a basic phone with real buttons) a mobile would actually be his best option in this situation.
Bob had always thought that wearing his shortie wetsuit as a base layer under his oilies would dramatically improve his survival time in water, but he's never worn it purely because going for a wee is such a faff.
Bob owns a large flare manufacturing factory and, like everyone on YBW, is a leading world expert on flares so he doesn't devote any time to thinking about flares and nor should anyone else. However Bob has fully deployed flares as appropriate in this situation.
Bob knows if the CG pick up his VHF call they will ask him a lot of questions. Bob wonders how he can 'game' the CG's questions to achieve the fastest response. For instance, when they ask him if he's wearing a lifejacket will they act faster if he says no?
What do we all think of Bob's thoughts?
(I will reveal the outcome onceI've made it up I have Bob's permission to share it.)
Bob's boat has suffered a fire and sunk quickly a few miles SE of the IOW. Nobody saw it happen.
Bob is in the water in mid April in his LJ with no liferaft.
The water is slightly choppy but by no means rough - F4-5 with a good fetch.
It's daylight but very early morning and there is nobody about.
There are 7 ships in sight, 1 moving, 6 anchored off St Helens.
Bob knows his position relative to a named bouy.
Bob muses on the various bits of kit he has on him to summon help. Some of his thoughts are a little heretical:
Bob deploys his 406mhz PLB. He thinks this will be unlikely to summon help because by the time the CG have checked contacts to see if his transmission is a false alarm and sent help, he'll be dead.
Bob deploys his AIS SART. He thinks it likely nearby vessels will pick it up. However he reckons the CG are out of range and he fears that all the people who receive his position will assume someone else is doing something and nothing will happen. Essentially he fears he's in an area remote enough that officialdom won't hear but busy enough that everyone will assume there are other people better placed to help.
Bob has a handheld VHF. He's found it pretty unreliable at contacting Marinas on CH80 but thinks that's a line of sight issue and is hoping there will be a line of sight to the CG aerial. He thinks the CG aerial will be high up and they might have sensitive kit. He thinks if he can get through to the CG he can confirm he's genuinely in distress and his 406mhz will give them his position. Although he's doubtful the CG will pick up his transmission Bob is actually very optimistic that nearby anchored/passing shipping will be able to pick up his VHF but he has no idea if those ships keep a listening watch on CH16. He also fears the same problem as the AIS SART - it's busy are at a quiet time - they may assume someone else is dealing with the problem and do nothing.
Bob thinks if he has no joy on CH16 that CH11 might be worth a go because all ships should be listening on that and many Yachtsmen will, too.
Bob has his mobile phone on him in an aquapack. Bob's uses his phone in in Kayaks/Dinghies/SUPS so he knows it works from low on the water and he had good signal just before his boat sank. He's never tried it from the water. Bob reckons that the height of mobile phone masts on the IOW means his phone is potentially more likely to have a decent line of sight than his VHF to ships. Unfortunately, Bob's mobile has a touch screen which will be a pig to use in the water. Bob thinks (if he had a basic phone with real buttons) a mobile would actually be his best option in this situation.
Bob had always thought that wearing his shortie wetsuit as a base layer under his oilies would dramatically improve his survival time in water, but he's never worn it purely because going for a wee is such a faff.
Bob owns a large flare manufacturing factory and, like everyone on YBW, is a leading world expert on flares so he doesn't devote any time to thinking about flares and nor should anyone else. However Bob has fully deployed flares as appropriate in this situation.
Bob knows if the CG pick up his VHF call they will ask him a lot of questions. Bob wonders how he can 'game' the CG's questions to achieve the fastest response. For instance, when they ask him if he's wearing a lifejacket will they act faster if he says no?
What do we all think of Bob's thoughts?
(I will reveal the outcome once
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