Moose
New member
We spent Saturday night on Nick2's berth at Hythe after watching the QE2 and QM2 leave. After giving the boat a clean and getting some diesel (24p/l) for 600l we headed off to Osborne Bay for lunch. I was lounging about on the flybridge moaning about the wash people were kicking up e.t.c/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif and No1 Moose was terrorising the Solent in the RIB. At about 1600 there was a call for any boat in Osborne Bay to assist an 8ft dinghy in trouble. When I looked up to see if I could see the boat I saw No1 Moose towing him to Osborne Beach and after speaking to No1 on the VHF to confirm if this was "the" dinghy I told Solent CG he was safe and sound on the beach and the 2 kids were waiting for their parents to arrive. No1 Moose came back to the boat and told me that they had started off in Wooton Creek with only the fuel they had in their Seagull fuel tank!!! Not to mention that the dinghy was only a little GRP thing i.e Sinkable! Then there was another Call for anybody in Osborne Bay to assist a little dinghy with Red Sails. We saw that there was a large sealine towing a dinghy in and they called up to say they had it in Tow. So off goes No1 Moose to take over the tow and dump them on the beach. Apparantly they had been seen off by their parents at East Cowes and were going to meet them on the beach at Osborne Bay, the fact that this was downtide and upwind didn't seem to concern the parents.
We then left Osborne Bay at about 1845 to go back to Chichester. About 1.5miles West of the Winner Buoy there was another call for any vessel off Hayling Island able to tow a 21ft motorboat with engine failiure. We voluntered our services and proceeded to the Winner to wait until the coastguard had finished their MSI broadcast and they could give us his position. They gave us a position that was just 1 mile south of us, so we headed off to pick him up. We got to this position and there was nobody around,,,,,for miles!! So we called up the boat and asked him for his latest position, the position he gave was just 2 miles North of the Nab (S of Hayling Island???/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif) Anyway we motored off to him and his position was in fact dead on. We came alongside him and sussed out the situation. He was anchored in 20m of water and there was no way that he could get his anchor in without some power. We then rafted up alongside him and pulled up his anchor with our winch, all 70 odd metres of it!!! After getting his anchor up we began to tow him back to Portsmouth. 2 hours later we were just approaching the Swashway and decided to tow him alongside into the harbour and onto the fuel pontoon at Gosport. We had been keeping the QHM informed of our progress and he very kindly asked the Val De Loire ferry to pass us dead slow because we were unsure how much more strain the bollard on our tow could take! Despite us making it very clear on Ch11 that we were towing somebody the stupid Gosport Ferry decided to take a run at us forcing us to come to a shuddering halt, and yes we did say we were not displaying the lights for a towing vessel but he still didn't care. Anyway, we dropped the boat off at Gosport and were met by the Marina Manager and the Coastguard.
So that was my Sunday afternoon, 7 people rescued in 3 seperate boats.
Sorry for boring you all/forums/images/icons/smile.gif
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We then left Osborne Bay at about 1845 to go back to Chichester. About 1.5miles West of the Winner Buoy there was another call for any vessel off Hayling Island able to tow a 21ft motorboat with engine failiure. We voluntered our services and proceeded to the Winner to wait until the coastguard had finished their MSI broadcast and they could give us his position. They gave us a position that was just 1 mile south of us, so we headed off to pick him up. We got to this position and there was nobody around,,,,,for miles!! So we called up the boat and asked him for his latest position, the position he gave was just 2 miles North of the Nab (S of Hayling Island???/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif) Anyway we motored off to him and his position was in fact dead on. We came alongside him and sussed out the situation. He was anchored in 20m of water and there was no way that he could get his anchor in without some power. We then rafted up alongside him and pulled up his anchor with our winch, all 70 odd metres of it!!! After getting his anchor up we began to tow him back to Portsmouth. 2 hours later we were just approaching the Swashway and decided to tow him alongside into the harbour and onto the fuel pontoon at Gosport. We had been keeping the QHM informed of our progress and he very kindly asked the Val De Loire ferry to pass us dead slow because we were unsure how much more strain the bollard on our tow could take! Despite us making it very clear on Ch11 that we were towing somebody the stupid Gosport Ferry decided to take a run at us forcing us to come to a shuddering halt, and yes we did say we were not displaying the lights for a towing vessel but he still didn't care. Anyway, we dropped the boat off at Gosport and were met by the Marina Manager and the Coastguard.
So that was my Sunday afternoon, 7 people rescued in 3 seperate boats.
Sorry for boring you all/forums/images/icons/smile.gif
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