Seen an AIS SART triggered for real?

[Mark-1]

Have any forumites ever seen an AIS SART on their plotter near their vessel for real?

If so what did you do? Go straight to the position? Assume it was a false alarm and do nowt? Contact the CG?

 

[Daydream believer]

A few years ago I was on passage SH from Bradwell to Ramsgate via the lower Sunk crossing. I was sailing in company with a friend in his bilge keel leisure 28. I was in my Hanse 311 & was very sea sick (as usual) as we aproached the swatchway across the sunk sand. Wind about SW 15kts.
I had been listening to the VHF & it was clear that a Bavaria 45 had run aground on the sands. Probably because the sands had moved over the winter,--as pointed out on this forum by Roger Caspar of "Crossing the Thames Estuary "fame. In addition a 45 ft ketch had also run aground about 75 yds from the Bavaria. The Ketch had a bad VHF & his range was seriously limited, such that the Bavaria was relaying his mayday to Dover on his behalf. His VHF was drowning a fairly wide band of the VHF channels. Rather disgraceful effort from the ketch with poor VHF etc.
The CG had called the lifeboats from Clacton & Walton.
The ketch had activated his AIS SART but had set it incorrectly to MOB.
I kept calling my mate to warn him that the 2 boats were aground & one was sending a false AIS signal, but he ignored my calls & was concentrating on the MOB.
As he approached the ketch, he could see the radar support dome on the stern & a support for the solar panel & took them to be 2 people standing on the stern, looking for the MOB. He assumed the 2 boats were anchored because of the MOB.
The waves on the sand bank were breaking away from him & he could not see them
He sailed straight on to the bank & his boat rolled over the bilge keels on to its side. The keels held his boat over at about 160 degrees & my mate & his son were lucky not to have been thrown from the cockpit in to the sea.

Fortunately, just before the RNLI arrived there was enough water, wind & waves for him to roll back on to the 2 keels & then he was able to bounce& motor off the sands.
Apart from the fact I was sea sick, I could do nothing to help, due to my draft & just had to watch my friend come to grief. All because some idiot had his AIS set to MOB & because his VHF was not working properly. Plus my friend had not bothered to properly monitor my numerous warnings on VHF 16.
My friend motored on to Ramsgate with rudder & skeg damage & then back to Bradwell. The boat had to be lifted & the skeg & rudder removed for repair. He lost 3 months of the season & this winter has had the skeg off again for further repair.
The Bavaria & ketch were towed off by the RNLI. The Ketch was accompanied under its own power to Mersea & the Bavaria towed back to the Orwell where it was lifted for keel & rudder repairs.

 

[Boathook]

Have any forumites ever seen an AIS SART on their plotter near their vessel for real?

If so what did you do? Go straight to the position? Assume it was a false alarm and do nowt? Contact the CG?

Not yet, but I suspect that I will one day as they become more 'popular'.

 

[Daydream believer]

Had quite a few DS mayday alerts on the VHF. Hancock would have been in his element. But most have been miles away & I just turn them off. A couple of fires, or run aground, but mostly engine failure. The CG go through the usual box ticking exercise, including " Have you got sails?" It is odd how many do have sails, but give a host of excuses why they cannot be used.
Being SH there is normally nothing I could do, even if fairly close. Different if I have a crew, In which case I monitor them carefully in case I could be of use.

 

[Roberto]

Have any forumites ever seen an AIS SART on their plotter near their vessel for real?

If so what did you do? Go straight to the position? Assume it was a false alarm and do nowt? Contact the CG?

Yes, an SART Indeed (not MOB, different AIS coding).

AIS SART: caso reale
Sorry no time to transate all of it, but while in my marina I saw this message on my plotter coming from a few tens of meters away, nothing apparent, I contacted the CROSS/MRCC, they have antennas everywhere and they did not see anything (which imho tells a story about how efficient these device are to "warn everyone all around"). At some later time the mother boat ais became apparent and the mrcc could get in touch with them, eventually just a test. No harms done, but at least in this case an example how depending upon configuration these things can be next to useless.

 

[SteveAus]

The ketch had activated his AIS SART but had set it incorrectly to MOB.

What are the different symbols which appear on a chartplotter for an AIS SART and an AIS MOB? As far as I can find in a brief search, both are a red cross in a circle. I have an AIS with a SART button. As far as I am aware, the symbol it generates is not programmable by the user.

 

[Daydream believer]

What are the different symbols which appear on a chartplotter for an AIS SART and an AIS MOB? As far as I can find in a brief search, both are a red cross in a circle. I have an AIS with a SART button. As far as I am aware, the symbol it generates is not programmable by the user.

Have you tried to click on it & get the full vessel description when you receive one? Also you should be able to program the correct nature of the distress when sending.

 

[SteveAus]

Have you tried to click on it & get the full vessel description when you receive one? Also you should be able to program the correct nature of the distress when sending.

I had not realised that the AIS message could include details of the distress. That is interesting. I thought the only function of the SART button was to cause the displayed symbol to change.
I don't know how I could activate the SART and click on its symbol without causing an emergency response to be initiated. Is there a means of testing the function without initiating an emergency response?
My AIS is a black box with a SART button. There may well be a means of changing the description of the nature of the distress which is to be transmitted but this could only be done while connected to a laptop with the relevant software. It is not something which could be done on a small boat in an emergency.

 

[Daydream believer]

I had not realised that the AIS message could include details of the distress. That is interesting. I thought the only function of the SART button was to cause the displayed symbol to change.
I don't know how I could activate the SART and click on its symbol without causing an emergency response to be initiated. Is there a means of testing the function without initiating an emergency response?
My AIS is a black box with a SART button. There may well be a means of changing the description of the nature of the distress which is to be transmitted but this could only be done while connected to a laptop with the relevant software. It is not something which could be done on a small boat in an emergency.

Actually you may be correct. My VHF definately has the function. The boat in question had a faulty VHF. But something was continuously transmitting MOB . My friend picked it up. That is why he went to his aid. I assumed that it was the AIS that was sending that info. The ketch had definately activated the ais as I received an alarm . Being sea sick I just turned the lot off & used my hand held VHF. I did not need a chart plotter to get through the channel .

 

[Laser310]

I see the MOB pretty frequently, often right before a race, with the location at he dock, or later, with the MOB icon on top of the (moving) boat icon.

It's getting so that in races, they are not taken seriously.., kind of like DSC distress calls.

I have seen the vessel EPIRB's with included AIS SART capability.., bur I was wondering: are there any fixed yacht AIS transponders that include an AIS distress button?

 

[Daydream believer]

I see the MOB pretty frequently, often right before a race, with the location at he dock, or later, with the MOB icon on top of the (moving) boat icon.

It's getting so that in races, they are not taken seriously.., kind of like DSC distress calls.

I have seen the vessel EPIRB's with included AIS SART capability.., bur I was wondering: are there any fixed yacht AIS transponders that include an AIS distress button?

Yes they can have a distress button. Mine has.
Vessels can show what they are doing, ie surveying, guardship etc so they must be able to state the distress details . I have queried a vessel (small coaster) & its intentions when I approached it. The CG interupted & gave the skipper a bo...king for displaying "survey" when it was doing nothing of the kind. It changed the AIS description & then moved over to avoid me.

 

[Mark-1]

I see the MOB pretty frequently, often right before a race, with the location at he dock, or later, with the MOB icon on top of the (moving) boat icon.

It's getting so that in races, they are not taken seriously.., kind of like DSC distress calls.

That's my sense and that's why I'm asking. I get the feeling that AIS SARTs are typically filed by 'us' as false alarms or somebody else's problem. Which is probably inevitable but negates their USP.

 

[st599]

I had not realised that the AIS message could include details of the distress.

A quick browse of the AIS spec shows they send a location message and a safety message containing either "sart active" or "sart test".