Solent Coast Guard on Strike tonight

[chanelyacht]

a rant

Weather forecasts - you might have missed the words "issued by the Met Office". We don't write them - suggest you talk to Frank on here.

Missing persons - for whatever reason - are police jobs. They request the level of tasking based on information received, and known profiles drawn from thousands of incidents.

Local residency doesn't equate to local knowledge - but local knowledge exams, which we all take regularly, do, as does time spent out with sector managers and teams.

Why is CG66 a waste of time? (By the way it's admin is small, and done as part of normal workload). The vessels in distress who's information, shore contacts, etc we can instantly find from registration don't think it's a waste.

Glad to know though that you're volunteering to be the person broken down on a lee shore who we needn't send anything to because you need to learn a lesson.

I'm still intrigued by your level of experience and knowledge which informs your conclusions - surely they are informed conclusions, not just drawn from watching a bit of Seaside Rescue, a couple of forum posts, and an obviously bad experience in the past?

 

[Grumpybear]

Listen carefully to Jonjo5. This guy's an expert at lots of things. Just a while ago he had a wonderful plan to reorganise the defence of the realm and save lots of money (not that identifying waste in the MOD is exactly challenging).

 

[chanelyacht]

Listen carefully to Jonjo5. This guy's an expert at lots of things. Just a while ago he had a wonderful plan to reorganise the defence of the realm and save lots of money (not that identifying waste in the MOD is exactly challenging).

I reckon even I could do that, and after all I'm just a script reading idiot who sends lifeboats out for no good reason to keep my job...

 

[Giblets]

It would be better if JonJo5 directed his ire towards a totally overstaffed, overpaid & autocratic organisation - the DVLA!
rather than attack those who actually do useful jobs!

Cue Tim Bartlett.

 

[Chrusty 1]

It would be better if JonJo5 directed his ire towards a totally overstaffed, overpaid & autocratic organisation - the DVLA!
rather than attack those who actually do useful jobs!

Cue Tim Bartlett.

Oh please no, anything but that!

 

[Giblets]

Oh please no, anything but that!

They are made for each other!

 

[jonjo]

Weather forecasts - you might have missed the words "issued by the Met Office". We don't write them - suggest you talk to Frank on here.

And you missed out "On behalf of the MCA". As you told us a couple of years ago this irritating extra verbiage in the modern shipping forecast is to tell the world the MCA now pays for the forecast. You pay for it and deliver it hence any deficiencies are you responsibility.

Anyhow my main gripe is the lack of local live readings and the policy of regurgitating old forecasts throughout the day when clearly the weather decided to do something else. How come CG weather forecasts suddently get more informative the minute the Channel Islands or Ireland come into range?

Missing persons - for whatever reason - are police jobs. They request the level of tasking based on information received, and known profiles drawn from thousands of incidents.

If you want to be taken seriously as the 4th. emergency service take responsibility for your actions.

Local residency doesn't equate to local knowledge - but local knowledge exams, which we all take regularly, do, as does time spent out with sector managers and teams.

I know I told you that a few posts ago, anyhow this sounds like a statement in support of centralization?

Why is CG66 a waste of time? (By the way it's admin is small, and done as part of normal workload).

Changing your tune now? At the start of this thread you painted a picture of stoic CG officers weighed down by paperwork and poor management. Now given an opportunity to rid yourself of some the response is, "oh a bit CG66 admin, no probs all part of the day".

Glad to know though that you're volunteering to be the person broken down on a lee shore who we needn't send anything to because you need to learn a lesson.

Silly boy, reaching for daft extremes now. My point is the French CG assist but decide where a charge is suitable. Adopting a French approach to CG small boat assistance would cut the leisure skipper dross VHF traffic 50% in 3 years once stories about the invoices had circulated.

Why should the tax payer subsidize the leisure pursuits of the Pimms Appreciation Society?

I'm still intrigued by your level of experience and knowledge which informs your conclusions - surely they are informed conclusions, not just drawn from watching a bit of Seaside Rescue, a couple of forum posts, and an obviously bad experience in the past?

No bad experience as I have never called the CG, my hostility grew out of dismay at the standard of call handling when a became a regular Solent 16 listener. If my yacht was based in Weymouth my opinion might be different since they are clearly in a different league to Solent and Brixham.

 

[jonjo]

Listen carefully to Jonjo5. This guy's an expert at lots of things. Just a while ago he had a wonderful plan to reorganise the defence of the realm and save lots of money (not that identifying waste in the MOD is exactly challenging).

Not save money but increase the size of the RN by 50% for the same annual budget. As you say identifying waste in the MOD is easy, shouldn't someone do something about? We are talking about the defence of the realm you know!

My views on the Coast Guard are not way out of line, in fact my suggested level of centralization is less extreme than a Government proposal that got to parliamentary committee review. Has the C.G. dodged that ConDem bullet?

 

[Chrusty 1]

They are made for each other!

I think they were made BY each other!

 

[robertj]

Not sure about that other thread, but when people post things that look half plausible, I so try and counter them with actual facts...

Unfashionable things facts, I know, but they are still alive somewhere

Searush searush I never thought you would take my reply regarding the governments position as being other than stupid. My complete backing of their ridiculous statements should have flag'd up that indeed it was a but if satire.

But I do take umbridge over the defaced blue though and I can find one i will fly it.
Someone must know it's origins?

Got it wrongly linked sorry

 

[chanelyacht]

And you missed out "On behalf of the MCA". As you told us a couple of years ago this irritating extra verbiage in the modern shipping forecast is to tell the world the MCA now pays for the forecast. You pay for it and deliver it hence any deficiencies are you responsibility.

Actually, that was inserted by the Met Office to clear up a copyright issue. If the MCA hadn't paid for it, you wouldn't currently be able to find it anywhere for free (remember when the Met Office wanted to put everything behind the paywall of MarineCall?

Anyhow my main gripe is the lack of local live readings and the policy of regurgitating old forecasts throughout the day when clearly the weather decided to do something else. How come CG weather forecasts suddently get more informative the minute the Channel Islands or Ireland come into range?

The MSI auto broadcasts are updated as soon as each new forecast is issued. I agree with you about local conditions, we'd love to be able to add those providing we have a reliable source for them.

If you want to be taken seriously as the 4th. emergency service take responsibility for your actions.

Happy to. I was just trying to explain that much goes on which even Seaside Rescue doesn't show, you wouldn't have seen the extent of the initial information or any other factors which influenced the response. As I've said before, the RNLI will challenge our request to launch and if the reason isn't robust enough, they won't go

I know I told you that a few posts ago, anyhow this sounds like a statement in support of centralization?

But what about your queueing theory? If you have people qualifed by sector, wherever they are sitting, you do not have your huge pool to draw from. And given that local knowledge is not the sole reason for siting CG stations within the communities they serve, you can't use it as the reason for not doing so either.

Changing your tune now? At the start of this thread you painted a picture of stoic CG officers weighed down by paperwork and poor management. Now given an opportunity to rid yourself of some the response is, "oh a bit CG66 admin, no probs all part of the day".

No, you brought up CG66 as an example of some vast job-creating scheme. It isn't - much of it is self service now. That doesn't mean (again) that we're not doing a lot of admin or non-immediate SAR tasks that you don't take into account. Try writing a coroners report for example. I was also pointing out that CG66 has a direct benefit to SAR, contrary to your assertion.

Silly boy, reaching for daft extremes now. My point is the French CG assist but decide where a charge is suitable. Adopting a French approach to CG small boat assistance would cut the leisure skipper dross VHF traffic 50% in 3 years once stories about the invoices had circulated.

Sorry, you're still wrong. I know very well how the French CG work, I've worked there on long term exchanges. Their first call is to find a commercial tow - as we do , or a breakdown service - as we do . If none is available they task the SNSM - and the SNSM have made the decision to charge. Same as our RNLI / independents are free to do. The only difference is that this side of the channel, they choose not to.

Neither charging decision is taken by either Coatguard, French or HMCG

Why should the tax payer subsidise the leisure pursuits of the Pimms Appreciation Society?

They don't. Boaters (who you obviously think are all rich Pimms types) pay taxes. VAT. Fuel duty. Plus all the taxes as part of their normal everyday life that we all do. Perhaps no-one in any leisure activity - sport, walking, riding, etc - should receive any state aid (ambulance, etc) ? Boating brings money into the economy - just look around any busy south coast harbour.

No bad experience as I have never called the CG, my hostility grew out of dismay at the standard of call handling when a became a regular Solent 16 listener. If my yacht was based in Weymouth my opinion might be different since they are clearly in a different league to Solent and Brixham.

I'm sure Portland will be delighted with your comments