News report "Coastguard search for missing boat"

[Telstar26]

From the Western Telegraph yesterday, also on Dale Coastguard facebook:

HM Coastguard Dale is investigating the whereabouts of a boat that was due at Milford Haven today.
The sailing vessel, with three people on board, is known as ‘Sky Catcher’ a 48ft Hunter Sloop.
Its last reported position was Lands End on Tuesday (August 11).

I guess it's a Hunter Legend 48. But it seems strange that - given fog and light winds - a search is being performed so soon, as it's about 130M from Lands End to Milford, so 26 hours at 5 kn,

 

[Giblets]

Maybe an EPIRB has been triggered.

 

[Sandy]

Slow news day at the Western Telegraph?

 

[mainsail1]

I once had a crew member with a very nervous wife at home. she reported us missing because her husband failed to call her one evening. The Coastguard started a search which was called off when it was reported to them that we were "found" in Yarmouth when in fact we were in Chichester and had not been "found".

 

[Mark-1]

it seems strange that - given fog and light winds - a search is being performed so soon, as it's about 130M from Lands End to Milford, so 26 hours at 5 kn,

I was once reported overdue. I'd left Cherbourg for Portsmouth at 5am and I was reported overdue at 11am. The mixup was 100pc my fault, but nobody involved, including the Coast Guard seemed to have considered that 6 hours was an implausibly short time to allow for a small yacht to cross the channel at that point.

It triggered a massive 'phone around' drama (of the kind that seems to be happening with this yacht) but no actual search. My takeway from that is that being reported overdue has no useful benefit to the overdue boat. You need to initiate the search yourself with some kind of distress call/communication over whatever media.

Same with giving the coast guard a passage plan. I've been over due on my passage plan twice and nothing happened.

Clearly they can't launch a helicopter for every overdue boat, but if they can't why bother taking the details, or if they do they should make it clear that being overdue won't trigger a search. (By definition if you're concerned enough about a trip to call in a passage plan you're trying to ensure help comes if it goes wrong, not a South Coast marina phone-around.)

 

[Telstar26]

Now found safe and well: Missing boat found by coastguard

Only new info is that "HM Coastguard was called at 6.11pm on Wednesday, August 12, by a concerned member of the public reporting an overdue vessel" so I suspect Mainsail1's guess is closest!

 

[prv]

Same with giving the coast guard a passage plan. I've been over due on my passage plan twice and nothing happened.

They explicitly say that they will not take any action based on an unclosed passage plan, because too many people forget to report in.

The advice is to have a competent person ashore who knows your plan, and only contacts the coastguard if you don’t arrive as expected and they can’t get in touch with you. If your competent shore person does need to call the coastguard, they can pass over your plan then.

The option of lodging your plan with the coastguard in advance is for when you don’t have anyone ashore who understands boats and can give a sensible explanation of your intentions. You still need Aunt Mabel to call them, saying “he didn’t text me when he said he would, and all their phones go straight to voicemail”, but she doesn’t need to try to explain your boat (“a white one!”) or your exact plan that she never really grasped.

When I cross the Channel, I tell my mum when I’m setting off and where I’m going. She’s a sailor, and can make a sensible judgement based on weather and my habits as to when to start raising the alarm. She can tell the coastguard everything they’d need to know, so there’s no point me bothering them in advance.

Pete

 

[Sandy]

My AIS is used to let friends and family know where I am, no panic.

 

[Mark-1]

They explicitly say that they will not take any action based on an unclosed passage plan

They didn't say that to me.

The advice is to have a competent person ashore who knows your plan, and only contacts the coastguard if you don’t arrive as expected and they can’t get in touch with you. If your competent shore person does need to call the coastguard, they can pass over your plan then.

From the post you're replying to:

I was once reported overdue. I'd left Cherbourg for Portsmouth at 5am and I was reported overdue at 11am. The mixup was 100pc my fault, but nobody involved, including the Coast Guard seemed to have considered that 6 hours was an implausibly short time to allow for a small yacht to cross the channel at that point.

It triggered a massive 'phone around' drama (of the kind that seems to be happening with this yacht) but no actual search. My takeway from that is that being reported overdue has no useful benefit to the overdue boat. You need to initiate the search yourself with some kind of distress call/communication over whatever media.