Humber/Thames coastguard limits.....

[PetiteFleur]

Went into the Ore a few days ago and was surprised to hear Humber coastguard talking to a yacht which had run up the beach near Aldburgh, co-ordinating with Aldburgh lifeboat. We were entering the river so did not see anything, so carried on. Saw a yacht aground inside the entrance which had engine failure - she was pulled off the shore by a nearby motorboat and we then towed him to a mooring at Orford. Spoke to Orford harbourmaster and apparently Thames coastguard limit stops at the Deben entrance and then Humber takes over. I always assumed Thames went right up to Lowestoft.

 

[pks1702]

That fits.

A Mayday weekend before last off Orford was being handkerchief by Humber.

Folks calling up Thames were informed Humber were handling it.

 

[Bru]

Thames Coastguard as such no longer exists, asyou're probably aware. The call sign is still being used by Fareham when responding to traffic in the former Thames area during the transition to the new setup

Humber will be (and it sounds like possibly already are) covering the area from the Blackwater northwards with Dover dealing with everything South of there

It has not gone smoothly!

Edit P'S I wonder if they've handed off the northern end of the sector to Humber but not completely transferred the whole area yet?

 

[Marmalade]

Wasn't there a Yarmouth coastguard?

 

[Bru]

Wasn't there a Yarmouth coastguard?

Yup, closed in 2013

Current mess appears to be that the new joined up system isn't actually joined up yet! Humber can't access the former Thames antenna sites so Fareham are having to handle it. I wonder if Humber can access the former Yarmouth ariels and hence are now handling calls North of the Deben (I can't remember where the boundary between Thames and Yarmouth was)

That'd make sense as presumably Humber were able to cover for Yarmouth and vice versa

 

[Seashoreman]

Went into the Ore a few days ago and was surprised to hear Humber coastguard talking to a yacht which had run up the beach near Aldburgh, co-ordinating with Aldburgh lifeboat. We were entering the river so did not see anything, so carried on. Saw a yacht aground inside the entrance which had engine failure - she was pulled off the shore by a nearby motorboat and we then towed him to a mooring at Orford. Spoke to Orford harbourmaster and apparently Thames coastguard limit stops at the Deben entrance and then Humber takes over. I always assumed Thames went right up to Lowestoft.

I have been told by local Coastguard and Lifeboat that the line between Humber and Thames is to be the Deben.

 

[sailorman]

That fits.

A Mayday weekend before last off Orford was being handkerchief by Humber.

Folks calling up Thames were informed Humber were handling it.

Was that the engine fire in a MoBo. yes followed events , i was off Clacton

 

[Bru]

I have been told by local Coastguard and Lifeboat that the line between Humber and Thames is to be the Deben.

Hmm. Which is completely at odds with what the Coastguard have announced wrt the closure of Thames (see earlier post by me on this thread based on posts to other threads by Cantata et al)

To reiterate, the official position is that by this autumn, "Thames Coastguard" will cease to exist (it closed months ago and exists only as a legacy callsign already).

Humber will cover everything North of Sales Point (Blackwater and all points North), Dover will take over everything South of there (Crouch, Outer Thames, Medway, Swale etc)

That is the officially stated position, not something I've made up. Doesn't mean it won't get changed of course

Currently, Fareham are handling most (but seemingly not all) calls to "Thames" due to Humber not yet being connected into the national network which will permit any CG station to operate any ariel site. That's scheduled to change this autumn

Calls to "Thames" will still be responded to by whichever is the most appropriate MRCC however it seems clear that in the long term the idea is to get away from the concept of calling a specific coastguard MRCC and move towards simply calling "UK Coastguard" or some such and the response coming from whichever MRCC has the capacity to pick it up

 

[Cantata]

Erbas has summarised it well.
The current confusion is caused by the MCA not pre-announcing this interim period, during which time there may well be the dividing line between Humber and 'Thames' at the Deben entrance.
I think the situation is more to do with Dover not being part of the new network until the Autumn, not to do with Humber being unable to use old Thames aerials.
In my view, closing Thames then continuing to use the call sign without explaining why was pretty daft.

 

[Seashoreman]

Thanks Erbas and Cantata for clearing that up, I hope!
It would be odd to call UK Coastguard with no regional prefix?
I am sure they know what they are doing.........

 

[sailorman]

Thanks Erbas and Cantata for clearing that up, I hope!
It would be odd to call UK Coastguard with no regional prefix?
I am sure they know what they are doing.........

Not from a Medivac i monitored 2 weeks ago of Felixstoowe, they dont. The o/b Harwich Pilot did a DIY rescue direct with Harwich LB Stn

 

[FulmarJeddo]

I have no idea whether it was Humber or Fareham dealing with it, but on Saturday there was a Mayday relay (as announced by Humber Coastguard, reported by mobile phone) off Aldeburgh, a yacht on fire. The Coastguard transmissions were as clear as a bell down on the Swale at Harty, obviously being transmitted by all the old Thames transmitters. It seemed strange hearing Humber Coastguard right down here, but I suppose it is something we may get more of. I should add, it seemed to be very professionally dealt with.

 

[Bru]

I am sure they know what they are doing.........

I'm not!!!! :/

 

[pks1702]

Was that the engine fire in a MoBo. yes followed events , i was off Clacton

Yes that was the one.

I heard the name which is the same as a boat that moors just down from us at Shotley so my interest was pricked. I hoped all were OK and followed events. I belive RNLI took them to Orford Quay where the fire brigade were waiting to check it out. The boat was back at Shotley near the hoist early on Sunday so not sure if they made it under their own steam or not.

Must have been a very worrying experience - hope they are OK

http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/lifeboats_called_to_motor_cruiser_reporting_fire_on_board_1_4186596

 

[sailorman]

Its situations like that when Orford Lt bearing 270 deg @ 2.5 mls, makes far more sense than Lat n Long that the Coasty seem to prefer

 

[pks1702]

Its situations like that when Orford Lt bearing 270 deg @ 2.5 mls, makes far more sense than Lat n Long that the Coasty seem to prefer

Yes agreed.

There seemed to be a bit of confusion as to the position which I think was called in via 999 so not sure if a transposing issue with the message forwarding.

 

[sailorman]

Yes agreed.

There seemed to be a bit of confusion as to the position which I think was called in via 999 so not sure if a transposing issue with the message forwarding.

Your link mentioned 3 LBs attending, they lacked correct position info & were all over the place trying to locate the casualty.

 

[Yeoman of England]

Cantata has it spot on, nearly. Since Thames closed a couple of coastguards moved to the Mockery for a 6 month attachment to help boost the "fully trained" manning & help with local knowledge due to the number of people under training, to a lower standard than before.There are still major technical issues to be resolved, at great cost. Humber have always been able to access the Yarmouth patch & occasionally Thames.
The whole sorry situation is made worse by the proliferation of commanders, co-coordinators and other "senior" brass. Not many Indians on watch. I retired 2.5 years ago and still keep in touch with action and see the problems from both sides. Only time will tell if the Mockery was a good move or not.
Yeoman

 

[sailorman]

Why top heavy with brass

 

[dogleg]

Your link mentioned 3 LBs attending, they lacked correct position info & were all over the place trying to locate the casualty.

Aldeburgh and Lowestoft ALB's were at Southwold LB Day mayday was phoned in by casualty pn was approximate Aldeburgh ILB launched and found yacht 2 miles or so south of Orfordness Lowestoft arrived first due to superior speed and took cas under tow, when Aldeburgh ALB arrived tow transferred and Aldeburgh took to Orford Quay

Radio reception that day was excellent I was hearing Dutch , Belgian and French stations including Den Helder rescue, it was dealt with by Humber who handled it well I thought, far better than an incident in the same area the previous Monday surprised no one has mentioned that one