Sunken lobster pot lines strike again

[adamstjohn]

Whilst on our way to Bradwell/tollesbury on Friday morning in a very calm sea just to the north of Walton pier, admittedly going between to lobster pot markers -probably about 100 ft from each- we picked up a submerged unmarked line and ground to a halt, at no point was it apparent that this line was there, nor was it marked. After going under as much as I dared and cutting about 30 ft of line off with the bread knife, we were still stuck fast. We are a fin and skeg and the line was at the bottom of the rudder, despite trying to get down to it, it was just not doable. Another yacht stood by, Ivan on a HR 34 from Walton channel, Ivan I thank you, it was a great relief to my wife and young children to have you there. We advised coastguard to our predicament and continued to try to release ourselves. It was flat calm with very little wind, still enough to continually bump my head on the underside of the hull
though-note to self, put that old cycle helmet back on board. Somehow we managed to drift clear much to our relief and gingerly engaged gear and moved off. The tiller was very stiff and vibrated madly. Decided to crawl into titchmarsh as the conditions were benign and they were able to fit us in for a summer scrub deal whilst I looked at the rudder which I was very happy about. The lower pintle had a further 6 ft of rope, some weird pot seizing wire? and a buoy full of water, apart from a scored skeg we got away lightly and were back in the water and on a mooring by 4.30. Great service from the boys at titchmarsh for a last thing on Friday job. Apparently we were the third boat that week with same problem. Stay well clear of them out there (I have always given them a wide berth) as there seems to be more of a problem than in previous years.
If the owner of the lobster pot buoy and rope wants it back, am happy to oblige with my lift out bill.
Now where is that lobster pot petition.....?

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Whilst on our way to Bradwell/tollesbury on Friday morning in a very calm sea just to the north of Walton pier, admittedly going between to lobster pot markers -probably about 100 ft from each- we picked up a submerged unmarked line and ground to a halt, at no point was it apparent that this line was there, nor was it marked. After going under as much as I dared and cutting about 30 ft of line off with the bread knife, we were still stuck fast. We are a fin and skeg and the line was at the bottom of the rudder, despite trying to get down to it, it was just not doable. Another yacht stood by, Ivan on a HR 34 from Walton channel, Ivan I thank you, it was a great relief to my wife and young children to have you there. We advised coastguard to our predicament and continued to try to release ourselves. It was flat calm with very little wind, still enough to continually bump my head on the underside of the hull
though-note to self, put that old cycle helmet back on board. Somehow we managed to drift clear much to our relief and gingerly engaged gear and moved off. The tiller was very stiff and vibrated madly. Decided to crawl into titchmarsh as the conditions were benign and they were able to fit us in for a summer scrub deal whilst I looked at the rudder which I was very happy about. The lower pintle had a further 6 ft of rope, some weird pot seizing wire? and a buoy full of water, apart from a scored skeg we got away lightly and were back in the water and on a mooring by 4.30. Great service from the boys at titchmarsh for a last thing on Friday job. Apparently we were the third boat that week with same problem. Stay well clear of them out there (I have always given them a wide berth) as there seems to be more of a problem than in previous years.
If the owner of the lobster pot buoy and rope wants it back, am happy to oblige with my lift out bill.
Now where is that lobster pot petition.....?

Bad luck .

Clap hands for Titchmarsh staff.

Had the local Walton Coastguard still be in existence , I am sure they would have known who the culprits are and
would have taken the necessary action so we could all at least profit from your unfortunate experience.

 

[johnalison]

Ivan lives three doors away and is an old friend. I'll pass the message on. BTW, his boat is a HR312. A couple of years ago he was also involved when that Moody 30 was sunk by a dredger with fatal consequences. He witnessed the accident, stood by and later gave his story to the investigators. I don't know if he is a Jonah, but it looks as if it would be as well to keep clear of Ivan as well as pots!

 

[benw]

Beware of the areas just sth of the Deben entrance all the way up to R Ore Safe Water Mark.
On our trip sth we encountered then and put a way point to avoid on our return as we would be returning before first light. As it turned out first light was so amazing and the sea very calm we could actually see pretty well. They appeared to be less random and more organised in strings. Given the number out there it would be highly likely to claim boaters after dark.
A good offshore allowance would be needed to be clear.
We also had a swim by from a small group of Porpoises which combined with a magical sunrise gave us something amazing to consider! Apart from a short glimpse on our return across the Nth Sea and this one there appears to have been less activity in our experience this season.

 

[Leighb]

There is another bad area off Thorpeness, lots of pots, some with flags, but in between there are others that are just grubby round buoys about 1 foot in diameter. Difficult to see on a calm day when we went through 3 or 4 weeks ago, in any sort of a chop they would have been invisible. As it was we must have hit one which we never saw, there was a distinct "thump" on the hull, but fortunately no change in engine noise, I looked astern but did not see it even then!!!

 

[johnalison]

We also had a swim by from a small group of Porpoises which combined with a magical sunrise gave us something amazing to consider! Apart from a short glimpse on our return across the Nth Sea and this one there appears to have been less activity in our experience this season.

A bit of drift here, but I've never seen much porpoise activity round here. However, two weeks ago I saw one off Blankenberg, then a common dolphin later the same day off the Sunk, and another porpoise last Sunday in the Orwell.

 

[adamstjohn]

Ivan lives three doors away and is an old friend. I'll pass the message on. BTW, his boat is a HR312. A couple of years ago he was also involved when that Moody 30 was sunk by a dredger with fatal consequences. He witnessed the accident, stood by and later gave his story to the investigators. I don't know if he is a Jonah, but it looks as if it would be as well to keep clear of Ivan as well as pots!

That's a coincidence eh, we did encounter him again near his mooring, he was taking his dog ( rather lovely thing)down the river in the dingy , recognised our boat and came over for a quick yarn and a glass of wine, a true gent. I am terrible with boat models that feature more then 2 numbers.....tee here

 

[Cantata]

.................Had the local Walton Coastguard still be in existence , I am sure they would have known who the culprits are and
would have taken the necessary action so we could all at least profit from your unfortunate experience.

Presume you mean Thames CG.
I called them up one day and explained there were very poorly marked pots directly off their office, and they quite crossly told me it was nothing to do with them and they couldn't do anything about it.

 

[johnalison]

That's a coincidence eh, we did encounter him again near his mooring, he was taking his dog ( rather lovely thing)down the river in the dingy , recognised our boat and came over for a quick yarn and a glass of wine, a true gent. I am terrible with boat models that feature more then 2 numbers.....tee here

I have just talked with Ivan again. As you say, he is a real gentleman, which is more than you can say for the dog. Ivan is not a sot but is partial to the occasional drink. He got into serious trouble the other day when his sociable nature caused him to accept a drink on another boat at Titchmarsh. after one, two, three glasses, it was dark when he returned to a frosty welcome.

 

[Otter]

To the OP well done on getting sorted but seriously going into the water? - what does the panel think? I love a bit of wild swimming but you wouldn't catch me going in to cut off a line, the advice of the RNLI is the same I think.

 

[adamstjohn]

To the OP well done on getting sorted but seriously going into the water? - what does the panel think? I love a bit of wild swimming but you wouldn't catch me going in to cut off a line, the advice of the RNLI is the same I think.

I agree with you totally Dr Watson, wouldnt have normally been able to due to the sea state but it was extraordinarily calm, I had the inflatable in tow so did most of it from there, much was done from the floaty ladder thing and if I am honest I have a phobia of large things that swim (I blame my folks for taking me to see Jaws when younger, I have had to get out of pools before and after being offered a dingy ride with Namu the killer whale when younger declined that very quickly-would do so again on moral grounds I hasten to add), didn't spend a lot of time there and after realising the rest was too deep to get to safely, gave up. We were lucky that we were stuck for only about half an hour before floating free. It was only when we moved off under motor that we knew there was a lot more there. Thankfully the buoy weighed that down and it didn't float up to the prop-more luck than judgement. I don't know how we would have got off if we had not come free, would it have been a private firm diver job do you think? That would have run into thousands of £'s I think. Phewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

 

[Otter]

Just personally I would have called in a PanPan. If it was a pot the RNLI may well have just left it attached and towed you into Titchmarsh. Others will know better than me.

 

[alandalus11]

All beware of the area around Medusa Green marker buoy off the Naze. We were on our way to the Crouch on Friday and had to come to an abrupt stop near the Medusa buoy. There were about 15 black pots, all near the surface, not marked at all. All randomly placed and you could hardly see them. It was akin to negotiating a mine field. Some were just below the surface and you could only see them every so often.

On the way back to Walton they were there again on Monday but this time we were prepared and kept a good look out. Avoiding the course we took going out. Even so still quite scary. These 'fishermen' are nothing but ignorant in my view. There is no excuse not to properly mark these pots and I think the sooner something is done about these cowboys the better. Bring in tougher regulation and fine those that cause this menace to other innocent boater.

 

[Marmalade]

A question and a contribution...

The question first... don't the lines from the markers (even if invisible in most sea states) go straight down to the seabed. I've always dreaded snagging one (lucky so far) but assumed the lines went straight down - not horizontally...

Also - a boat moored next to us in France this year (German boat) had a small (1/3rd size I'd guess) air bottle and regulator / mouthpiece - the owner used it to go down no more than a metre I'd guess and clear his prop. Sounded like a better plan than trying to hold your breath

 

[wingdiver]

We carry a Mini B on board. It's an all in one scuba tank/bouyancy jacket/regulator. The tank is actually nearly full size (10 litres) so potentially gives well over an hour of normal breathing near the surface. Take a small (3 litre) tank and some energetic duck diving and hacking at ropes and you'll be lucky to get 15 minutes use. then there is the weight issue and having someone one the surface as 'cover'. I have dived so have no issues using this. I wouldn't recommend non divers to use scuba without a basic course first...

 

[alandalus11]

A question and a contribution...

The question first... don't the lines from the markers (even if invisible in most sea states) go straight down to the seabed. I've always dreaded snagging one (lucky so far) but assumed the lines went straight down - not horizontally...

Also - a boat moored next to us in France this year (German boat) had a small (1/3rd size I'd guess) air bottle and regulator / mouthpiece - the owner used it to go down no more than a metre I'd guess and clear his prop. Sounded like a better plan than trying to hold your breath

I don't think I would want to get into the water and clear lines etc in open water unless completely calm. Even in calm conditions as the OP mentioned, he got hit on the head by the hull of his boat, can you imagine what would happen in a swell or slightly choppier conditions. You could easily be knocked out, get tangled.

 

[Cantata]

The RYA is asking again for details of 'entanglements' with pot gear to lend weight to efforts to get something done.
The link is here: http://www.rya.org.uk/knowledge-adv.../Pages/fishing-gear-incident-report-form.aspx

 

[adamstjohn]

The RYA is asking again for details of 'entanglements' with pot gear to lend weight to efforts to get something done.
The link is here: http://www.rya.org.uk/knowledge-adv.../Pages/fishing-gear-incident-report-form.aspx

Done this, many thanks for the link. Ta adam

 

[Poecheng]

A question and a contribution...

The question first... don't the lines from the markers (even if invisible in most sea states) go straight down to the seabed. I've always dreaded snagging one (lucky so far) but assumed the lines went straight down - not horizontally...

We sailed between Brightlingsea and Southwold during our recent summer holiday. Most pot and line markers we found are a) visible and b) as you say, go straight down after a short stretch of small floats - perhaps about 6 foot max. We therefore sail between them ordinarily.

The one exception was IIRC north of the Ore entrance (and, I think north of the lighthouse) which was a long line that was entirely floating across its length. Not seen anything like it and made us quite distrusting generally but found it was an isolated exception.

We saw one Dutch boat come to a halt a few weeks ago (think just north of the Deben) and a small mobo nearby went to their assistance and went and got the fishing boat that appeared on the scene and didn't seem bothered until the mobo went and got them.

 

[Triassic]

I guess I've been relatively lucky only having had one actual contact with a fishing pot and on that occasion we were going quite fast so all I felt was a bump and looked back just in time to see the float flying up into the air having been ripped clean off it's line. Having said that I've seen and dodged plenty so I know they are about and they definitely feature in my passage plans, especially when navigating at night.

I'm somewhat surprised at the suggestion the OP should have called it in and potentially had a tow from the RNLI. OK I can understand not everyone being confident enough to actually go over the side and deal with it themselves but surely this isn't a life and death situation in the circumstances described? Given the number of times yachts seem to get caught up on these things isn't it reasonable to expect skippers to have some kind of contingency plan in place and perhaps carry something appropriate on board to at least give them some options? (and I don't mean the radio). I suspect scuba gear is a bit of a big ask for most of us but how difficult would it be to have something like a decent machete or other large knife on board that has two holes pre drilled through the handle so that it can be bolted onto the end of an oar that has corresponding holes already in it? That would at least allow you to get free and stand a fighting chance of getting the vessel back under control and out of any imminent danger.