Why do Sailing boats call the RNLI when their engins pack up?

temptress

temptress

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Is it me? I've just read yet another account of a sailing boat 'needing' rescuing in perfectly normal conditions cause their engine was out of action.

Are sailing boats not designed to sail and use the motor as a backup? Or is it people getting the RNLI to give them a tow because they hyave as timetable to keep to?

What do other people out there think?
 
I think the RNLI should charge for this service, if your car breaks down the police don't tow you to the nearest car park do they?

The RNLI is a voluntary service, they risk life and limb enough without helping these idiots out.

(Can see a case for it if becalmed in proximity to navigational hazards though, but would still make a large donation if it were me).
 
Having sailed back on to a marina berth last week when the engine control box on my sparkly new boat failed first time out, I have to agree with you, though being able to do 8 knots to windward helps with the time keeping!

But, many marinas and some harbours are less than happy with yachts manoeuvring under sail so a tow of some sort once you get close to your berth may be required whether you like it or not. The RNLI is not the organisation to call on though.
 
An oft debated topic - the general concensus appears to be that Yachties are a very orgnised bunch - always planning and thinking ahead and they often think "I wonder if the RNLI are up to scratch with their training?"
then they switch off the engine and give them a call - and anyway, with the price of fuel and the risk of duty on Red Diesel - its not a bad economy measure
 
I think most yachtsmen would at least attempt to sail back to a port somewhere - but the minority who call in the RNLI are as you say, simply wishing to get in quicker.

LUckily the RNLI are experienced in prioritizing issues which arise - and I am pretty sure a serious marine issue would be given priority over such a tow.

Regards
JOHN
 
I think anyone who has an engine failure and isn't in imminent danger should not be calling the RNLI. If they are a single engined motorboat then it's still their own silly fault - they shouldn't have got such a daft vessel with no other means of propulsion.

I think the RNLI are right to have the approach that it's an emergency if the skipper thinks it is, but skippers themselves may well be plain wrong and in need of a little more knowledge (or courage??).

It does the rest of us no good at all to have lots of statistics around saying what a dangerous sport we're doing - that way leads to regulation.
 
Surely, it depends on the circumstances .... Modern marinas are not designed for 40 footers to be sailed in. I can think of plenty of marinas I wouldn't fancy approaching under sail in a F5+ I am sure the coastguard would rather have the opportunity to deal with a minor incident than be called 30 minutes later with a major incident?
 
Being based in the SOlent, we are subscribers to SeaStart, who provide an AA/RAC type service. ie they try to fix the problem first, or tow you in. OK, its £130ish pa, but the also provide help to clear fouled props etc. Coverage extends up and down the south coast and includes northern France.

Sailing with novices on board quite often, I am happy to pay for this as a form of insurance.

Fortunately not had to call them at sea, although they did come to the marina twice to help with knackered old engine.
 
I wonder...
How does one "call out the RNLI"? IMHO it often begins with an information call to the Coastguard who will judge if the case is serious enough to ask the Hon Sec if he will launch. I don't think any vessel can actually call out the RNLI, can they?
This was the case on one occasion when I was out in a motor cruiser capable of up to 22 knots. A sailing yacht had become becalmed on the edge of a TSS and fog was all around. He called Brixham CG to see if there was anybody near who might pull him clear because he could not start his engine (silencer baffle had become detached and was blocking the exhaust exit!). This led to a Pan Pan call from the CG, and we went to the yacht's help. If we had not been available it might well have been a case for Salcombe or Torbay Lifeboats.
 
I think that, given the state of many sailing boats' auxillary, including my own "new" Yanmar that was installed in 1982, I would put good money on there being at least one boat in every sailing region having its engine conked out at any one time during daylight hours. The number that call out the RNLI would therefore appear miniscule, as a percentage. Speaking from experience, several in fact, I have only had to ask for a tow twice in 20 years, both times after reaching a port and neither was from the emergency services. I've lost count of the number of times the engine has died. I don't doubt that this is the norm, and that the reason they ask for a tow when they could sail is not because they're raggies, but because they're prats.

Leaving out the genuine emergency cases, of course, and nothing personal intended against Mr and Mrs Pratt who are fine and able seafarers.

P.S. I should clarify that getting to port is the norm, not conking out all the time. Even in an MAB.
 
Because...
The engine had packed up as it had pumped in enough water to the engine room to be over the gearbox, and up to the alternators....there was no wind...it was getting dark, we were not sure if the salt water had shorted enough of the electrics to have flattened the batteries.

On initially finding the water we thought we might be sinking, but as it happens the recon engine that had recently been fitted had not had new hoses included and the engine was happily pumping water in as we motored!

We did have contingency plan b... launch the dinghy and see how much petrol we had to drag us somewhere, but in the end the RNLI had fun towing us at 15knots back to Falmouth.

Thats why I called them.
 
Its down to choice again. Our first outing this year saw us motorsailing in very light wind on an ebb tide going past Hurst. When the engine note changed and the water flow from the exhaust stopped, I ordered the boat to be turned around and to roll out the genny and start sailing, against the tide, back to Yarmouth.

Now the choice bit, I chose to call Yarmouth HM on their working channel to arrange a berth that I could sail onto. I could have called Solent CG. I'm sure, had they been called some 'rescue' service or another would have become involved, why? Well I suspect that once they have become involved they see themselves responsible for the well being of the 'casualty'.

It took some time but we did sail back to Yarmouth and as I expected in their normal helpfull way the HM tied his dorry to us and guided us alonside a big hefty resident boat. Out of interest the lack of water was probably a plastic bag fish. No fault was found.
 
Would it be feasible for all ports (or as many as poss) to have a dedicated buoy outside of the main traffic lanes in deep enough water where yachts (or vessels with other issues) could moor up to under sail and either fix the engine or call someone local for a (much shorter) tow into areas where it is not advisible (or possible) to sail in?

Or are these called lobster pots?
 
The actual practise of a concept of self reliance is just too remote... Every magazine bangs on about it ,every book,every instructor too,yet lip service is where its at .
 
[ QUOTE ]
Modern marinas are not designed for 40 footers to be sailed in

[/ QUOTE ]

All modern marinas have a dory that will come out and and tow you to your berth otherwise join sea start.

I joined Sea start to account for engine failure, the RNLI should only be used as an emergency. As it happens you can join sea start when yo uhave a breakdown, it'll cost you a few quid extra but surely this is how one should get back to the marina.
 
Mostly idiots but there are some shores and excusable situations that would require a tow.
Examples :

Becalmed in a shipping lane or buoyed channel
Very steep-to shore
Strong tide carrying boat into danger
Strong surf or ground-swell near shore.
 
How many of these people have actually requested the lifeboat?

There seems to be at least anecdotal evidence that the lifeboats are sometimes rescuing boats that don't need it on the basis of "let's get them now so they don't have to call us later". I have seen a number of posts on here recently where people have said that after notifying the coastguard of a minor difficulty that is under control, a lifeboat has subsequently attended.

In very few of the incidents that lifeboats attend are they "risking life and limb" (certainly in daylight in the summer months, which I would guess are the majority) and they seem to be almost serving the purpose of training exercises.
 
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