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Old 27 December 2010, 19:39   #1
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Hopefully nobody here

http://hmcoastguard.blogspot.com/201....html?spref=tw

Obviously a reasonable outcome in the end.

I wish the CG watch officers weren't always so quick to "criticise" people, in this case for having "all the gear and no idea"... they managed to get out a distress call, and fire an orange smoke flare - for people who were probably in their first ever distress situation that actually sounds not too bad, especially if, eg. the skipper was in the water. I do wonder if this "public humiliation" in the press releases might actually put people off calling for help early (something they always encourage). I think it is very unusual for the other emergency services to be openly critical of those they rescue.
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Old 27 December 2010, 19:49   #2
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Not me

It reads as though the skipper was in the water and that the mayday was via handheld. Someone cracked a flare too. Not a bad response in my opinion.

Obviously if the remaining passengers could have flipped the DSC Distress button, it would have been a bonus.

I always show my passengers the "Red Rescue Button"

They never show much interest...
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Old 27 December 2010, 19:53   #3
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I always show my passengers the "Red Rescue Button"

They never show much interest...
Yes I know how an air stewardess feels!
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Old 28 December 2010, 00:43   #4
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This happened on my patch and was pleased to see GAFIRS mentioned instead of the RNLI for a change.

When conditions call for it I always wear my handheld VHF and it was obviously this that they summoned help with. I would like to know if the flare was set off from the boat or the people in the water?

My kids have been taught how to contact the coastguard in case of an emergency. They know about channel 16 and the RED button. They also know about May Days too. However I have told them to never use the radio unless it is a complete emergency too. In a situation like this do you think they would remember all that was taught to them? My Son is 9 and daughter 13, they are bright kids but how would they react under this pressure?

The phrase "out te window" springs to mind.
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Old 28 December 2010, 11:00   #5
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just read about this in the local paper, they reported that the people in the water were thrown from the rib during a high speed turn
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Old 28 December 2010, 11:06   #6
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http://hmcoastguard.blogspot.com/201....html?spref=tw

Obviously a reasonable outcome in the end.

I wish the CG watch officers weren't always so quick to "criticise" people, in this case for having "all the gear and no idea"... they managed to get out a distress call, and fire an orange smoke flare - for people who were probably in their first ever distress situation that actually sounds not too bad, especially if, eg. the skipper was in the water. I do wonder if this "public humiliation" in the press releases might actually put people off calling for help early (something they always encourage). I think it is very unusual for the other emergency services to be openly critical of those they rescue.
So do I. It's an attitude that I think filters down from MCA HQ and one which I tried hard to counter during my time in an Ops Room. In general I find the MCA a particularly arrogant organisation. Their prevalent attitude is that all 'leisure' seafarers are untrained idiots and need a finger wagged at them.

In my day, very few HMCG officers were experienced small boat seafarers, motor or sail. Few had been watch officers on any sort of ship. Many were 'communicators' retired from the armed forces. Their universal use of the acronym WAFI says it all. Wind assisted some of their clients may be, F 'in idiots, many are not.

Of course, there are some CG or ex CG officers on here more experienced than I, who may disagree with me.
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Old 28 December 2010, 12:06   #7
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So do I. It's an attitude that I think filters down from MCA HQ and one which I tried hard to counter during my time in an Ops Room. In general I find the MCA a particularly arrogant organisation. Their prevalent attitude is that all 'leisure' seafarers are untrained idiots and need a finger wagged at them.
Indeed - it seems they are rather scathing of a canoeist (or is it canoer?) who triggered a major search a few days ago despite not actually getting into difficulty. I wonder if they've stopped to think why most water users don't "call in" before/after going to sea? Could it be that they are not as approachable as they think? Could it be that they give an "inconsistent message" to water users - "please tell us your plans" but "we won't use your passage plan to trigger a search for you!"
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Old 28 December 2010, 12:12   #8
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At least the comment from the Coastguard wasn't quoted in the local rag. Looks like the RIB came from Premier Marina in Gosport.
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Old 28 December 2010, 14:20   #9
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Rhib.net

Don't know why you lot are even discussing it. This thread belongs on rhib.net not here!!
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Old 28 December 2010, 14:38   #10
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"All the gear but no idea" is an unforturnate choice of words, that's for sure. Rib owners are seen by some as being low on the marine pecking order but in my experience it's hard to predict how anyone will react in an emergency. We can all get into trouble at sea; I did the other day. I don't think scorn or blame helps the situation at all.
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Old 28 December 2010, 17:23   #11
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it's hard to predict how anyone will react in an emergency.
This is very true and I don't think people can be blamed for that, we all have our strengths and weaknesses.

If anyone should be publicly shamed, and I don't think it helps if anyone is, it should be the people with "no gear and no idea". You can't make a bad vhf call if you haven't got a vhf etc etc
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Old 28 December 2010, 21:06   #12
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Like most of the finger wavers and pointers of authority,be it a goverment agency or other ,its nice that they can sit smug and desk thump and throw books at people when they have usually the best of equipment or resources to play around with at no expence to themselves.
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Old 29 December 2010, 00:41   #13
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Don't know why you lot are even discussing it. This thread belongs on rhib.net not here!!
I wish they'd decide what they are going to call a rigid inflatable boat. Surely they can agree on something?

I am told at work how to write the date on my letters for crying out loud.....can't the MCGA/MCA/Coastguard decide on this????

Chris
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Old 29 December 2010, 07:04   #14
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If everyone was in the water, and they cracked off a flare and still managed to get out a vhf call from proper water level, that's bloomin' good going.
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Old 29 December 2010, 08:09   #15
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Im personally going to complain about the comments from the duty watch officer, seems to me the crew did a fine job, as they were thrown from the RIB im presuming they had a kill cord attached, a hand held VHF was on one of them and they somehow also had a flare available, what more could someone have done in similar circumstances. If I had been thrown from my Rib I would have had a VHF as its clipped to my life jacket, the Kill cord would have activated, I would not have had a flare as those are in a locker on the RIB so if I could not have got back into the Rib I could not have used one. I do also carry a personal locator beackon so could have used that. I think the statement "all the gear and no idea" is completely inaccurate it should have been "most of the gear and a good idea".

With regard to contacting the agencies with a passage plan before setting off, in reality how many people do that if they are just going for a spin out ? Im sure the agencies would get rather annoyed if every boater did that. If im going on a long journey I would do that but for just messing about in solent and along jurrasic coastline I usually just let the misses know what area I will be in and then check in with her at a pre-arranged time later in the day.

Mark
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Old 29 December 2010, 08:12   #16
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good post
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Old 29 December 2010, 08:22   #17
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Mark

Very good. I feel disappointed by the comment and would like further explaination of the facts. However it would appear that the crew did a good job, unless something is missing from the story.

In our industry, those involved try not to make any judgemental comments in the spur of the moment, to avaid just this sort of thing. That was until Quantas lost the engine, when the MD got a bit vocal ....
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Old 29 December 2010, 13:15   #18
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Not passing comment on Press release

5 POB on RIB
Helm + 1 stayed in the boat
3 ended up in the water
2 automatic lifejackets failed to inflate
1 manual also not inflated

They were lucky the MOD Police launch was not far away and a passing yacht picked up 2 of the water casualties.
These casualties were very cold and had only been in the water for about 5 minutes, requiring hospitalisation.

Please regularly check your lifejacket.
Practise man overboard drills in all weathers you take your boat out in.
Wear appropriate clothing
Ensure everyone is briefed on use of radio, flares etc

Be safe and have a happy new year.
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Old 29 December 2010, 14:06   #19
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Im personally going to complain about the comments from the duty watch officer, seems to me the crew did a fine job, as they were thrown from the RIB im presuming they had a kill cord attached, a hand held VHF was on one of them and they somehow also had a flare available, what more could someone have done in similar circumstances. If I had been thrown from my Rib I would have had a VHF as its clipped to my life jacket, the Kill cord would have activated, I would not have had a flare as those are in a locker on the RIB so if I could not have got back into the Rib I could not have used one. I do also carry a personal locator beackon so could have used that. I think the statement "all the gear and no idea" is completely inaccurate it should have been "most of the gear and a good idea".

With regard to contacting the agencies with a passage plan before setting off, in reality how many people do that if they are just going for a spin out ? Im sure the agencies would get rather annoyed if every boater did that. If im going on a long journey I would do that but for just messing about in solent and along jurrasic coastline I usually just let the misses know what area I will be in and then check in with her at a pre-arranged time later in the day.

Mark
All good points Mark, maybe just a slip of judgement however by whoever made the 'all the gear' comment ? It is easy if something unrelated has got to you to say the wrong thing and in a few seconds its all gone nuts !

I always do a radio check... a flying hangover I guess and will always tell the CG if I am out in the dark or in 'iffy' weather..... but they always seem to view it as a pain and regularly dont reply late at night when I radio on reaching where I am going.....

Also good point about checking lifejackets etc , but at the end of the day they all got back and to be fair hopefully in the solent once someone knows you are in trouble help is usually very close to hand....

Just wait for the MAIB report now !
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Old 30 December 2010, 12:43   #20
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All good points Mark, maybe just a slip of judgement however by whoever made the 'all the gear' comment ? It is easy if something unrelated has got to you to say the wrong thing and in a few seconds its all gone nuts !

I always do a radio check... a flying hangover I guess and will always tell the CG if I am out in the dark or in 'iffy' weather..... but they always seem to view it as a pain and regularly dont reply late at night when I radio on reaching where I am going.....

Also good point about checking lifejackets etc , but at the end of the day they all got back and to be fair hopefully in the solent once someone knows you are in trouble help is usually very close to hand....

Just wait for the MAIB report now !
PeterM, do you feel that your late night calls are unanswered because the CG can't be bothered to reply? Could it be that there is poor VHF coverage with low aerial height at your destinations? I ask because it seems astonishing to me that your calls are not acknowledged.

In my, admittedly limited, experience of CG Ops Rooms, I can't ever remember a call on ch 16 not being acknowledged at any time - even when casualty working. At such times the reply may have been, 'Casualty working, for routine traffic please call back later', or perhaps 'Seelonce Mayday' if appropriate. But the call would always be acknowledged.

Of course, we had nowhere near as much radio traffic as the stations on the south coast, perhaps they just get overwhelmed at times by the sheer volume of routine traffic.

Like you I rarely file a TR unless I'm going well offshore without an accompanying boat.
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