Notifying Coastguard of departure

[Kelpie]

I had got out of the habit, because usually once I arrive somewhere there is no VHF or phone reception, so then I would worry about telling the CG that I had arrived safely. But based on the comments in this thread, perhaps I will start doing it again...

 

[ShinyShoe]

Shorn, they would do all this via VHF anyway, it is not dependent on registering so called 'safety traffic'. I have assisted the CG on a few occasions and registering my intended voyage would have contributed nothing to the decisions the CG made to request assistance.

That applies for the majority of cases... ...so they have a concern about a boat 'struggling' off Ventnor - the call all vessels near Ventnor and ask for any information.

However, a vessel is missing. It was travelling from Bembridge to Needles via the South. They know you were doing a similar journey at a similar time. They have put out an all stations for info but you are safely in Cowes Marina for the night and have turned VHF off. They can identify you from CG66, and contact via telephone. You then say you saw the boat at anchor at Ventnor. They just narrowed their search criteria from the whole of the south of the IoW to one specific location...

 

[ShinyShoe]

I had got out of the habit, because usually once I arrive somewhere there is no VHF or phone reception, so then I would worry about telling the CG that I had arrived safely. But based on the comments in this thread, perhaps I will start doing it again...

But for it to serve its main purpose someone has to report you missing. You need a shore contact for that. But they also need a phone call or some other means of knowing you are safe so they dont initiate a search?

Needs a mobile call / text message. VHF should be the backup to that for if you say are at anchor with no signal. You call CG and say "We are safe. We have been unable to contact our shore contact." Sat phone...?

 

[JumbleDuck]

Good to know. I have to say that a few do seem to carry it to ridiculous extents - I remember a few months ago hearing someone call in to Thames coastguard, informing them that they were about to leave Stangate and head up river to Rochester - about 12 miles on a fairly narrow river! The Coast Guard were remarkably polite about it...

I have heard a terribly posh English voice tell the coastguard, in great detail ("We hev foh-ah pah-sons on board") about their impending passage from Ardinamar to Craobh.

Note to foreigners: you can see Craobh from Ardinamar. It's about three miles.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

That applies for the majority of cases... ...so they have a concern about a boat 'struggling' off Ventnor - the call all vessels near Ventnor and ask for any information.

However, a vessel is missing. It was travelling from Bembridge to Needles via the South. They know you were doing a similar journey at a similar time. They have put out an all stations for info but you are safely in Cowes Marina for the night and have turned VHF off. They can identify you from CG66, and contact via telephone. You then say you saw the boat at anchor at Ventnor. They just narrowed their search criteria from the whole of the south of the IoW to one specific location...

The argument for the VHF being switched off is exactly the same for the telephone, the search area is just as wide, so it shows that contacting the CG to lodge ones passage plan does not contribute to the safety of others.

 

[ShinyShoe]

The argument for the VHF being switched off is exactly the same for the telephone, the search area is just as wide, so it shows that contacting the CG to lodge ones passage plan does not contribute to the safety of others.

If your phone is off then yes. But generally speaking mine is on 24/7, My VHF is usually off in port. We could get down to your phone is on but its the CG calling you so you decide not to take the call...

It wouldn't be entirely unheard of for a CG land crew to turn up in a destination Marina of a missing vessel and ask around if anyone had seen it. So if your mobile is off but your boat is there and they know you were on similar passage they will try and speak to you. Next you'll tell me you are already packed up and in the pub.

If you don't want to help fellow sailors you don't have to.

The other reasons to submit passage plans are:
It allows you to radio test without doing a Radio Check. That alone contributes to my sanity!
You can place it using DSC which means you can become familiar with the DSC functions of your specific radio. Guy on the missing yachtswoman thread says he placed a voice PanPan instead of a DSC Urgency because he worried about accidentally sending a DSC Distress... ...sending a DSC Urgency is the correct procedure for a Mayday Relay and so could be of benefit to others.

Has anyone given me a reason, other than "its none of their business", why a passage plan shouldn't be filed?

 

[Poignard]

Them!

First you offer them information. Then they start to expect it. Then they begin to demand it. Then they punish you for not providing it.

 

[JumbleDuck]

However, a vessel is missing. It was travelling from Bembridge to Needles via the South. They know you were doing a similar journey at a similar time. They have put out an all stations for info but you are safely in Cowes Marina for the night and have turned VHF off. They can identify you from CG66, and contact via telephone. You then say you saw the boat at anchor at Ventnor. They just narrowed their search criteria from the whole of the south of the IoW to one specific location...

Do they really have a system which allows them to enter dozens or hundreds of yacht passage plans and then predict who should have been in a particular area at a particular time? If so I am (a) surprised (b) impressed and (c) a little spooked.

 

[Iliade]

Do they really have a system which allows them to enter dozens or hundreds of yacht passage plans and then predict who should have been in a particular area at a particular time? If so I am (a) surprised (b) impressed and (c) a little spooked.

I'd be pretty concerned if they didn't, even if it was only a single 8086 sat in a corner of the office running memory map .

 

[Deleted member 36384]

….. Next you'll tell me you are already packed up and in the pub. …… If you don't want to help fellow sailors you don't have to. ….. It allows you to radio test without doing a Radio Check. …… You can place it using DSC which means you can become familiar with the DSC functions …. "its none of their business" ….

It still does not increase the chance of narrowing the search area, pub or not. You cannot conclude from my comments that I do not want to help other sailors, just as I cannot conclude that you are nosey or interfering or lonely. I know my VHF works without having to lodge a passage plan. It is none of their business. The ability to use DSC is not relevant in this context.

 

[maby]

First you offer them information. Then they start to expect it. Then they begin to demand it. Then they punish you for not providing it.

Hmmm, I think that's highly unlikely. As noted earlier, I was under the impression that they really didn't like being offered passage plans, but the CG66 pack does invite them subject to some restrictions.

 

[maby]

It still does not increase the chance of narrowing the search area, pub or not. You cannot conclude from my comments that I do not want to help other sailors, just as I cannot conclude that you are nosey or interfering or lonely. I know my VHF works without having to lodge a passage plan. It is none of their business. The ability to use DSC is not relevant in this context.

Why does this type of discussion always end up so heated? Nobody is suggesting that lodging a passage plan should be mandatory, the original question was simply asking how many of us do it. The Coast Guard do seem to be happy to accept them, so pass one on if it seems right to you. I would not take seriously suggestions that recording a passage plan with them will have any notable impact on SAR efforts for other boats, but it could easily help them to find you if you go missing, so it seems to me that it is in our own interests to do it. I generally do - but all my trips are perfectly innocent - if I had the bilges stuffed with illegal drugs, I probably would not!

 

[maby]

Do they really have a system which allows them to enter dozens or hundreds of yacht passage plans and then predict who should have been in a particular area at a particular time? If so I am (a) surprised (b) impressed and (c) a little spooked.

I'm absolutely certain they do nothing active with it until you are reported overdue. My bet is that it is simply added to the day log book for future reference if required. I assume that all voice traffic is recorded anyway these days, so it would be sufficient to make a note of the vessel name and date/time group in order to go back to the audio recording if required.

 

[pagoda]

I have heard a terribly posh English voice tell the coastguard, in great detail ("We hev foh-ah pah-sons on board") about their impending passage from Ardinamar to Craobh.

Note to foreigners: you can see Craobh from Ardinamar. It's about three miles.

I have read this through in the the light of our recent 2 1/2 day passage from Lossiemouth to Stavanger. For the first 100miles we saw a liitle traffic here & there, and reached the "inshore" platforms. We heard Aberdeen coastguard doing weather a few times. Nobody else on 16 at all. The middle 100miles was rarely out of sight of 2 or 3 platforms with associated safety standby boats in attendance. Again nothing on 16, but plenty of contact available had we wanted it. The final stretch to the Norwegian coast was utterly deserted, no shipping except for very near the coast. And there are almost no platforms or rigs on this part of Norwegian waters. Plenty North and South, but really nothing off Stavanger as such. Short of calling up assorted platforms or standby boats to "report in" so to speak I'm not sure what value involving the CG would have? And the standby boats are not there to act as relay stations....
We did contact the harbour at Lossie to let them know we arrived OK, since they knew where we were going. We weren't out of our comfort zone much doing that trek, so how does one decide who and when to alert.
Going from Stornoway or Kirkwall to Faroe? , that's 2/3 the distance across the north part of the North Sea, but much more open and deserted sea, I might be tempted in those circumstances?
Difficult personal decision to make. As long as we don't end up with regulations requiring us to report everything??
I would not dream of doing it within sight of land.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Why does this type of discussion always end up so heated? …..

Ask shiny shoes who has implied that I do not want to help fellow sailors just because I believe that lodging a passage plan with the CG will not increase my safety, or that of others one iota.

Why is it in my interest to tell the CG where I am going? Your insinuation that those who don't are doing something illegal is just bizarre. Would it now be proper of me to think that you are suspicious, a sneak who checks yachts that have not called in, informing the CG of possible illegal activities - no it would not.

 

[maby]

I have read this through in the the light of our recent 2 1/2 day passage from Lossiemouth to Stavanger. For the first 100miles we saw a liitle traffic here & there, and reached the "inshore" platforms. .... Short of calling up assorted platforms or standby boats to "report in" so to speak I'm not sure what value involving the CG would have? And the standby boats are not there to act as relay stations....
....

Surely this is exactly the type of passage for which it makes sense to lodge a plan, isn't it? You are in open water, out of range of VHF communication with the Coast Guard and probably out of range of anyone else for a lot of the time. If you go overdue and a friend or family contacts the emergency services, then the CG will have some idea of where to start looking for you. If you had just slipped the lines and left Lossiemouth without telling anyone where you were going, they could have been faced with searching the entire North Sea if you went missing.

 

[jimbaerselman]

Coast guard passage reporting (CG 66) is optional.

Customs reporting if you are leaving the EU (for the Channel Islands) is a legal requirement (C 1331), ignored by the French, insisted on by HMRC.

The UK Border Force is still attempting to introduce compulsory reporting before arrival for all leisure boat entering UK waters. The Cruising Association's Regulations and Technical services is on the case . . .

 

[chanelyacht]

What is the point of notifying the CG on arrival, since they do not pass that onto the departure CG.

But the system it's logged into is common to all stations, so if I need to know whether xxx arrived in Holyhead, or Aberdeen, I can just search the system.

At one station we had a regular who logged a passage plan every time he left the mooring in his dinghy for the shore. He sailed solo, and his worry was if he fell out of the tender no-one would know. To me, that's not unnecessary, or timewasting, or silly - it's doing our job.

 

[maby]

...

At one station we had a regular who logged a passage plan every time he left the mooring in his dinghy for the shore. He sailed solo, and his worry was if he fell out of the tender no-one would know. To me, that's not unnecessary, or timewasting, or silly - it's doing our job.

I'm both surprised, and pleased, to hear that!

 

[maby]

Coast guard passage reporting (CG 66) is optional.

Customs reporting if you are leaving the EU (for the Channel Islands) is a legal requirement (C 1331), ignored by the French, insisted on by HMRC.

The UK Border Force is still attempting to introduce compulsory reporting before arrival for all leisure boat entering UK waters. The Cruising Association's Regulations and Technical services is on the case . . .

Indeed - but that is not Coast Guard, it is UKBF. While I would not welcome it, you can see their point - they are spending a lot of money on enforcing border security at airports, knowing full well that dozens of terrorists together with weapons could be coming into the country every week, completely unchecked. If I thought they had any hope of enforcing it, I would probably grit my teeth and accept it - knowing that they can't possibly make it stick, it would just be an inconvenience for the law abiding.