Stop Radio Checks

[justanothersailboat]

Daydream - they probably didn't pick up your DSC call because they were too busy turning their radio off and on again to cancel the DSC alert :-D

Those things are an absolute nuisance, no chance of me "upgrading". How many of the intrusive alerts are even (a) real problems and (b) close enough that someone could meaningfully help at six or seven knots?

 

[Daydream believer]

You cancel distress alerts because you can’t be bothered to change your glasses.

Yes. Most DSC calls are just routine information calls. Many from the French. As for distress calls- I am a single handed sailor & have enough trouble looking after myself. What use would I be in helping another, 20 miles away?
I was once just North of North Foreland in heavy weather when Dover CG called me up. I went below to answer. They told me that they had been informed by someone on the shore that a vessel was in distress near me. Could I see it. I managed, with some difficulty, to get my binoculars & go on deck. However, due to the motion, I could not use them. I advised Dover that I could see no one in the immediate vicinity. They thanked me.
A short while later they called again & this time I went below & was thrown violently across the cabin injuring my back. This injury took 4 months to cure & a lot of visits to the physio.
They said that another observer had also called about a vessel in distress. Could I have another check. After several exchanges it turned out that 2 people on the shore had seen ME. Yes me. I then informed them that I would not be in distress if they had left me alone as until they called I was perfectly OK.
If I had not bothered to answer the VHF call In the first place I would have not suffered a b..y injury that put me out of action for weeks.

 

[ylop]

Yes. Most DSC calls are just routine information calls. Many from the French. As for distress calls- I am a single handed sailor & have enough trouble looking after myself. What use would I be in helping another, 20 miles away?

You will be no use to someone 20 miles away but how do you know that the call is 20 miles away when you don’t have your reading glasses on. It could be someone 10 minutes sailing away. You MAY be able to help them or at least provide better information to CG etc.

I hope I am never calling for help and watching your boat sailing nearby whilst waiting for a lifeboat!

I was once just North of North Foreland in heavy weather when Dover CG called me up. I went below to answer. They told me that they had been informed by someone on the shore that a vessel was in distress near me. Could I see it. I managed, with some difficulty, to get my binoculars & go on deck. However, due to the motion, I could not use them. I advised Dover that I could see no one in the immediate vicinity. They thanked me.
A short while later they called again & this time I went below & was thrown violently across the cabin injuring my back. This injury took 4 months to cure & a lot of visits to the physio.

Perhaps it’s time to rig a radio (or handheld) in the cockpit so that you don’t need to face the dangers of the companionway underway?

Difficult to complain about people using the radio for the purpose it was intended for if you won’t learn how to cancel alerts rather than on/off or make adjustments to make easier to use in your aging years.

If I had not bothered to answer the VHF call In the first place I would have not suffered a b..y injury that put me out of action for weeks.

In which case they’d have launched a lifeboat…

 

[Daydream believer]

In which case they’d have launched a lifeboat…

I doubt it. I would have been long gone by the time any life boat was launched.

 

[ylop]

I doubt it. I would have been long gone by the time any life boat was launched.

two callers saying a yacht in trouble. No response from the only yacht they could see in the area. I'd expect a lifeboat and the CG rescue team. Whether you were still there when they arrived would be irrelevant, by answering the radio you saved a dozen volunteers from getting disturbed because the public were worried about you.

 

[Daydream believer]

two callers saying a yacht in trouble.

But I was not in trouble. If I was I would have said so. . Flares, epirb, AIS emergency button. I was perfectly happy until then. The CG do not send out the LB on a whim- Unless it is a rubber dinghy, swimmers, kayakers, inshore, people trapped on rocks etc etc The CG were tracking me on AIS & my course would have told them something. I was not travelling in circles. I was doing 4-5 kts in a straight line.

 

[Mark-1]

But I was not in trouble. If I was I would have said so. . Flares, epirb, AIS emergency button. I was perfectly happy until then. The CG do not send out the LB on a whim- Unless it is a rubber dinghy, swimmers, kayakers, inshore, people trapped on rocks etc etc The CG were tracking me on AIS & my course would have told them something. I was not travelling in circles. I was doing 4-5 kts in a straight line.

I wonder what the nature of the distress they reported was?

Fire? Collision? Some sort of visual emergency signal?

If the nature of the distress was "going up and down a bit" and it was a choppy day I'd really question if that justifies a launch. Bobbing up and down is a normal part of the hobby. The lifeboat will also be bobbing up and down. See also people calling 999 when a dinghy or windsurfer falls in.

 

[boomerangben]

You will be no use to someone 20 miles away but how do you know that the call is 20 miles away when you don’t have your reading glasses on. It could be someone 10 minutes sailing away. You MAY be able to help them or at least provide better information to CG etc.

I hope I am never calling for help and watching your boat sailing nearby whilst waiting for a lifeboat!


Perhaps it’s time to rig a radio (or handheld) in the cockpit so that you don’t need to face the dangers of the companionway underway?

Difficult to complain about people using the radio for the purpose it was intended for if you won’t learn how to cancel alerts rather than on/off or make adjustments to make easier to use in your aging years.

In which case they’d have launched a lifeboat…

If you are in distress and you see a nearby yacht then you transmit you mayday, push all the red bottoms on the various gadgets and get a flare out. No reading glasses required, no need for a radio, just big bright red thing saying I’m in trouble, here I am come and help.

 

[ylop]

If you are in distress and you see a nearby yacht then you transmit you mayday, push all the red bottoms on the various gadgets and get a flare out. No reading glasses required, no need for a radio, just big bright red thing saying I’m in trouble, here I am come and help.

Your assumption that a distress call comes from a yacht with a mobile crew still on board and able to get to the flares is quite a leap. Had daydream believer ended up more seriously injured he'd potentially have been stuck below in reach of his DSC but unable to get on deck to launch a flare. If I fall overboard at night, or breakdown and am adrift in my tender, or I've gone out in the kayak or sup I'm likely to have a h/h VHF on me but not any flares. (My H/H is not DSC enabled but increasingly many are). if I have a heart attack on board or get hit by the boom I have high confidence in my crew successfully making a DSC Distress call and follow up voice call. Whilst my crew know where the flares are and have had their use explained, I wouldn't put money on them remembering or having the presence of mind. If I'm down below trying to bang a wooden bung in a failed sea cock I don't have spare hands to be launching flares.

But I was not in trouble. If I was I would have said so. . Flares, epirb, AIS emergency button. I was perfectly happy until then. The CG do not send out the LB on a whim- Unless it is a rubber dinghy, swimmers, kayakers, inshore, people trapped on rocks etc etc The CG were tracking me on AIS & my course would have told them something. I was not travelling in circles. I was doing 4-5 kts in a straight line.

You said you should have just ignored their call. That would have taken two reports from the shore that you were in trouble and added to it that you weren't responding to their radio calls. The AIS might provide them reassurance, or it might mean autopilot is engaged and you are no longer on board or incapacitated. I'd put money on the Ops room at least mobilising a CG rescue team to go and watch you from the shore. I've seen/heard lifeboats launched for less.

If the nature of the distress was "going up and down a bit" and it was a choppy day I'd really question if that justifies a launch. Bobbing up and down is a normal part of the hobby.

Of course it doesn't. That's why they would try to call boats in the area to see if there is really a problem. If there's only one boat in the area and she's not responding, maybe the callers from shore are right and there is a problem.

 

[Mark-1]

Of course it doesn't. That's why they would try to call boats in the area to see if there is really a problem. If there's only one boat in the area and she's not responding, maybe the callers from shore are right and there is a problem.

Hence I'm questioning the nature of the distress. If the boat's on fire or sunk that's highly likely to be a problem. If all the CG know is it's sailing perfectly normally I'd seriously question if failure to answer the VHF alone would/should warrant a launch.

I've been reported overdue and couldn't be raised on mobile or VHF and no launch was generated. I'd say that was better evidence of a problem than a yacht that's visually fine but not answering, so the nature of the distress is critical to the launch decision IMHO. It shouldn't (and apparently doesn't) come down to failing to respond on 16.

 

[Stemar]

Yes. Most DSC calls are just routine information calls. Many from the French. As for distress calls- I am a single handed sailor & have enough trouble looking after myself. What use would I be in helping another, 20 miles away?
I was once just North of North Foreland in heavy weather when Dover CG called me up. I went below to answer. They told me that they had been informed by someone on the shore that a vessel was in distress near me. Could I see it. I managed, with some difficulty, to get my binoculars & go on deck. However, due to the motion, I could not use them. I advised Dover that I could see no one in the immediate vicinity. They thanked me.
A short while later they called again & this time I went below & was thrown violently across the cabin injuring my back. This injury took 4 months to cure & a lot of visits to the physio.
They said that another observer had also called about a vessel in distress. Could I have another check. After several exchanges it turned out that 2 people on the shore had seen ME. Yes me. I then informed them that I would not be in distress if they had left me alone as until they called I was perfectly OK.
If I had not bothered to answer the VHF call In the first place I would have not suffered a b..y injury that put me out of action for weeks.

That sort of thing seems to be a very good reason for having the VHF accessible from the helm. The last thing I want to do in heavy weather is negotiate a steep companionway in a hurry, especially solo.

 

[boomerangben]

[

That sort of thing seems to be a very good reason for having the VHF accessible from the helm. The last thing I want to do in heavy weather is negotiate a steep companionway in a hurry, especially solo.

Quite frankly, the most important place to have a radio is the cockpit and the chart table is secondary in my opinion. Radios below are pain when you are on deck, a pain when you are below decks trying to sleep.

 

[Daydream believer]

[
Quite frankly, the most important place to have a radio is the cockpit and the chart table is secondary in my opinion. Radios below are pain when you are on deck, a pain when you are below decks trying to sleep.

But if there is nowhere to put it in the cockpit then one has no option

 

[Stemar]

But if there is nowhere to put it in the cockpit then one has no option

If you want to enough , there can't be many boats where it really isn't possible.

Mine lives on the hatch garage, on its bracket. I just put away below when I leave the boat. No, it isn't ideal, but there's nowhere to cut a hole for it where it won't be a problem the other side of the bulkhead, and I'm certainly not going to have it where I need to leave the helm and go downstairs to use it.

A back burner project is to do away with my sprayhood and build a GRP one. If I do, the VHF will go in the roof where it can't be stolen easily and is well protected.

 

[Daydream believer]

If you want to enough , there can't be many boats where it really isn't possible.

Mine lives on the hatch garage, on its bracket. I just put away below when I leave the boat. No, it isn't ideal, but there's nowhere to cut a hole for it where it won't be a problem the other side of the bulkhead, and I'm certainly not going to have it where I need to leave the helm and go downstairs to use it.

A back burner project is to do away with my sprayhood and build a GRP one. If I do, the VHF will go in the roof where it can't be stolen easily and is well protected.

Would not have a tent if you paid me. Silly things. .
My friends have one on their 40 ft Jeneau & I struggle to get below.
Cannot use the winches on the cabin top either.
I was on an identical boat to mine ( new to a friend) when they tried to winch the jib up they had to fold the tent down.
As for VHF on a backet. I certainly do not want things swinging in the hatchway where I still could not see or reach from the helm. I do not want wires hanging in front of the doors & a bracket is not practical anyway.
Hatch garage is full & a bracket would be in the way
An extension handset is not an option as there is no safe place to fit it.

 

[Sandy]

Just spent the week on the Solent did not hear one radio check. Saying that there were not that many boats about; can't think why.

 

[justanothersailboat]

Sandy - they saw you coming?

I think my radio ideal might be the set inside, just a command mike in the cockpit. Unfortunately those sets tend to be the fancy ones with ghastly alarms and fiddly interfaces. My compromise is to leave the main set below turned off and just use a handheld in the cockpit. The coastguard stations are so high-up and powerful that handheld is good for them a long way off, but it doesn't receive traffic from far away that I don't need to think about. I am considering dumping the fixed VHF completely.

 

[Poignard]

My Twister, a teeny-weeny 28-foot long, has its VHF just inside the companion way where it can be reached from the cockpit or the chart table.

 

[newtothis]

My Twister, a teeny-weeny 28-foot long, has its VHF just inside the companion way where it can be reached from the cockpit or the chart table.

On the Anderson 22, one just has a crew member take a message to the radio room.

 

[Sandy]

Sandy - they saw you coming?

I think my radio ideal might be the set inside, just a command mike in the cockpit. Unfortunately those sets tend to be the fancy ones with ghastly alarms and fiddly interfaces. My compromise is to leave the main set below turned off and just use a handheld in the cockpit. The coastguard stations are so high-up and powerful that handheld is good for them a long way off, but it doesn't receive traffic from far away that I don't need to think about. I am considering dumping the fixed VHF completely.

I usually single hand. Having a RAM by the wheel takes all the pressure of when taking to VTS or a lock.