Mayday, Pan-pan, Securite.

I would have been very tempted to put out a Pan Pan straight away - possibly even a Mayday if I was unable to maintain distance from the rocks.

However, assuming that, after squaring everything away, you were able to make some progress to windward, or at least across the wind, and were in no immediate danger, I think I would have put out an 'All Ships' broadcast explaining the situation and asking for a nearby boat to give me a tow.

<hr width=100% size=1>JJ
 
A few years ago, returning through Needles Channel, saw a large semi-submerged object (unidentifiable). Put out a Securite to Solent Coastguard. They acknowledged, asked for confirmation of position and then said it had already been reported but thanks anyway. I don't know what happened subsequently, though later heard a Securite broadcast warning from Solent Coastguard.

Three years ago did a Pan Pan relay call from a yacht in poor visibility in the shipping lanes with engine failure. There was some wind, but not enough to make more than a couple of knots. Again the message had already been picked up but we were thanked for our help. A nearby motor boat with radar took them in tow to, I think, Cherbourg.
There is a strong case for saying this should have been an 'All Ships' Securite call, but I suspect mutiny in the ranks and the skipper wanted to provoke a tow - who can blame him.

I have been in fog and light winds on a number of occasions and heard yachts putting out Securite calls but never done so myself

<hr width=100% size=1>JJ
 
The only time I have called the CG, was approaching Sheerness down the deep water channel, when my crew received a severe blow to her head from the boom/mainsheet block in an accidental gybe. After getting her to hold a towel against the wound, I called the Thames CG with a Pan Pan Medico and the Sheerness lifeboat came out and took her off. I wasn't expecting this, only medical advice. Very professional the RNLI. one crewmember accompanied me to Sheerness, where she was taken to the local cottage hospital.

<hr width=100% size=1>dickh
I'd rather be sailing... :-) /forums/images/icons/smile.gif
 
Inland - A variation.

Was sailing on Breaydon Water in 25 foot swing keel yacht. Late season and quite blowy. Gusting 7. On a falling tide.

A motor cruiser (Broads hire craft) had got stuck on the mud outside the marked channel.

They were waving, we got within haling distance and aceertained that there was no actual threat to life. We then called Yaremouth coastguard for advice and they deployed the inshore RIB to assist. We stood by and the cruiser was subsiquently draged off the mud and went on its way.

D.

<hr width=100% size=1>Last weekend was shopping darling........ so this weekend is boating. (Duck!)
 
Chris - I agee that that is the correct call to the Coastguard - but that was not in fact the call I made - NB I was in Southampton Water/forums/images/icons/wink.gif What would have been a quicker option? Not trying to be clever, but the call I made seemed to be the best option at the time.

<hr width=100% size=1>Boating is <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.powerboat-training.co.uk>Serious</A> Fun
 
Good idea to canvass and see what calls are sent out. Often the wrong call is sent out.

Have a look at www.gafirs.org.uk. This is the web site of one of the independant lifeboats on the solent. Someone posted this some time ago and it makes interesting reading.

Go to the downloads section and you'll find some of their incident reports.

Here are few I've heard of where inappropriate calls were sent out:

1. Fully crewed yacht in Portsmouth harbour entrance. A crew member loses the top of hit finger in the fridge door. This resulted in a Mayday. It should have resulted in a simple CH16 call to coastie to arrrange an ambulance transfer to A&E. There was no immediate threat to life or vessel.

2. A small yacht in the shipping lane loses steering when a bolt sheers. No large vessels are approaching. This resulted in a CH16 call to coastguard followed immediately by a Mayday when told to go to CH67 and wait. It should have resulted in a Pan-Pan. The stearing could easily have been jury-rigged with a boat hook or paddle lashed to the transom hung rudder.

3. A crew member falls from a yacht. The yacht attempts an MOB recovery and fails several times. Only after several failures is a Mayday sent. I believe the person died. The Mayday shoud have been immediate and cancelled if the MOB was succesful.

Every situation is different and it's very important to discuss several scenarios on the radio course so the students understand how to differentiate.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
I did my VHF through Gafirs and very good it was too. Just have to upgrade to DSC now! When I did the course they put forward similar real secenarios and it made for a very interesting course. i think this is why Powerskipper is asking the questions - plus a wide option makes for a better tutor - not having to constantly repeat the same material all the time keeps everyone on their toes.

<hr width=100% size=1>Boating is <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.powerboat-training.co.uk>Serious</A> Fun
 
After 45 years of sailing, with much of that time singlehanded, I do not believe, in a global sense, that many pleasure boat calls to the appropriate authorities are really life threatening. Certainly, over the past 10 years where pleasure activities have increased there has seen a rise in the different types of calls, but if you take for example the UK RNLI statistics, you will note that many of these call were not necessary. The service is there and many take undue advantage of it, at the expense of others.

Earlier this year I had a real dead or alive situation, when for subjudicy reasons as to what was the casue cannot be mentioned as there are civil and criminal proceedings in progress, where in Katoema, a steel ketch, became live with short circuiting with much water entering what was a very dry vessel.

The circumstances necessitated calling up both the UK (Falmouth) Coastguard and the French CROSS (Corsen) to inform them of the circumstances. This was not done as a MAY DAY or PAN PAN because experience dictates how to handle it. Being singlehanded and requested to cut off all power (220, 24 and 12v). I had rounded Ushant in mid March heading East up the English Channel 12 miles off the French N Brittany coast.

Why call up Falmouth as well as Corsen?

!/ Katoema is French based and under strict customs control until arrival in the Channel Islands.

2/ I was heading for Jersey, which as part of the planning I had informed Falmouth and Jersey before hand.

3/ Being fluent in French it was protocol to include Corsen as my position was very close to the Ouessant shipping lanes towards the Casquets.

Equinoxial Spring tides and a 2m draft with F6 winds, the N Brittany coast for suitable entry was not on.

It concluded with both Falmouth and Corsen collaborating, as per text book requirements, resulting with the launch of the Isle de Batz SNSM Life Boat to tow Katoema to the Commercial port of Roscoff. With a severed tow line the conditions spoke for themselves.

Without the criminal negligence, which was the cause of this life threating incident, conditions were not a problem and in the absence of the shippling lanes the situation would have been monitored from both sides of the Channel.

There were no real lessons to be learned here, other than do you really place your life in the hands of those 'professional' boat yards, engineers etc etc that you let on board your vessel to carry out their trade and be able to sleep at night. For a few Euros of sealant to ensure a dry vessel, the cost of this episode looks as though it will run into 7 figures, but I am lucky I am alive.

Sure enough, no two situations merit the same action and, indeed, the same response, but I do not underestimate the importance of experience when it comes to boating and the different weather conditions that one will encounter, let alone how to handle different circumstances.

So, when should one call MAY DAY, PAN PAN etc cannot be an all inclusive and definitive black and white decision, as this will reflect the experience of the skipper involved. Sometimes it boils down to requiring assistance or not and, yes, that decision can be left to the authorities concerned.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mpcee.co.uk/katoema.html>http://www.mpcee.co.uk/katoema.html</A>
 
Blimey, you keep on alluding to this incident without providing any detail! Since it's sub-judice perhaps you shouldn't mention it at all rather than keep bringing it up with the statement that you can't say anything about it.

In the absence of any information I can only assume you have a 220V ac generator which isn't protected with an RCB on the output. This would be inexcusable but could lead to the symptoms you've hinted at.

But, surely you would have checked this out for yourself as a self-sufficient sailor who plans to girdle the globe? Look forward to some detail on this and what equipment was connected and running at the time of the incident. We may all learn something from this

Regards
Tom

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Appreciating that you have little information and here I must put on my legal hat. All that should have worked did work, but the essence of the incident should not have happened. Criminal Negligence has been found and to find it took some shrewd investigation. The response to this forum was aimed at why and when does one request for assistance. This was just just that, albeit the circumstances seem to be shrouded in mystery.

One final point, if, as you say, you have been reading different segments of this incident is this: There is a big difference between faulty workmanship and gross negligence, But there is even a greater difference between the latter and criminal negligence. In the UK you have the MAIB, but how many incidents are criminal and that is why the circumstances of Katoema are shrouded in legal argument. Snippets of information can be mentioned, if taken out of context and, therefore, it is taken as such in the little bits that you have read.

Katoema is also used for disabled persons; the regulations covering safety aboard are much more stringent that your normal pleasure boat whatever that may be.

Martin

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.mpcee.co.uk/katoema.html>http://www.mpcee.co.uk/katoema.html</A>
 
Third party

Fortunately never been aboard a vessel that's needed to make a panpan or a mayday.

But here are brief details of a three maydays I observed fairly closely, all in the same Round the Island Race.

1. Man overboard in the Western Solent. Yacht concerned maydays, MOB picked up by a following yacht very quickly, mayday cancelled.

2. Off of Freshwater. Mayday because of suspected heart attack with crew member. Immediate evac requested. Helo there within 5 minutes.

3. Off St Caths in heavy overfalls. X-99 broaches across bows of wooden 39 footer which punches a hole in the X such that she sinks in less than a minute, all crew (seven I think) in water, life jackets inflated, some of them roped together. 3rd party vessel initiates Mayday. Every yacht in vicinity attempts to recover the crew but V diff in sea state. One or two recovered by other yachts and one or two by a photographer's launch. Remainder are plucked out by helo after maybe 7 minutes in water.

IMHO Mayday was the right call in all 3, because lives in imminent danger.

OTOH, every summer w/end in the Solent brings one or two maydays because of breakdown, where there is no imminent danger, and a panpan or a general request for assistance via Ch 67 with Solent CG would be far more appropriate.



<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>
 
Securitéx2

1. Isola da Ischia, september 2002, 1200-1400h

Océanis 393. As the wind starts dying after about an hour of sailing, and trying to get into Grande Marina before shops close (SWMBO's on board), I want to cover the last two miles under engine. I start the engine and engage forward gear. Nothing. A bit more throttle, still no wake. First reaction: no cable between gear lever and gearbox. I remove the panel in the rear berth. Now there's and engine turning happily over, a gearbox, also turning. But where the shaft used to be, there was now a spout of water. Apparently the fact that I ran over my own tender line and had it wrapped round the prop upon leaving the anchorage in the morning had something to do with the fact that the shaft became dissengaged from the gearbox. We clogged the hole with a rag to stem the flow, and dove to see a 2 cm bit of the shaft still inside the hole. The shaft couldn't slide out any further because of the rudder. So we still had the propellor.
We secured the shaft with a rope to a cleat, so it couldn't get lost. We then pushed the boat along at 1-2 knots with the 4HP tender: just put the nose of the tender on the scoop transom and tied it securely. We had to cool the outboard engine with wet towels, but we managed.
500 m out from the *very busy* ferry port of Grande Marina, I issued a securite to explain our situation. Also contacted port control. We were met with the marina launch who helped us guide the boat in a berth.

N°2
Westerchelde, Vlissingen-terneuzen august 2001; 1900h-0100h; Sirocco31
Great day out with girlfriend: warm sunny day, chiled white wine. As wind drops, I decided to start engine. As we had been listening to the radio all day, the battery was deader than a dodo (guess when I installed my new twin-battery system?). Decided to continue sailing. 1bft breeze on the nose with a fair tide neap, so gaining ground was slow, and more governed by the dying tide than the wind. LOG=0, SOG=1. i just used the small speed through water to maintain our heading, and pick the best of the current eddies. Issued a sécurité at dusk and contacted traffic control. Arrived in port at 0100h

So both times caused by engine failure on a windless day. The reason for the sécurité was to warn other vessels.

Both sécurités were issued not on CH 16, but on the working channels of resp. port control and Westerschelde TSS. I believe that they are more practical channels than CH16.Defining the nature of the distress is essential. So even when you contact Coastguard of Port Control outside of CH16 with your emergency; always identify mayday/panpan/sécurité.

<hr width=100% size=1>Group of people on the pontoon: skipper is the one with the toolbox.
http://sirocco31.tripod.com
 
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