oops

[Poly]

Maritime and Coastguard Agency Press Office: DIVE BOAT CAPSIZES WITH SIX IN THE WATER

[jyasaki]

I was diving in Monterey a while back, and we had an all-hands type emergency response to the far side of the beach near the launch ramp. At least 3 police cars, an ambulance, 2 Fire Dept rigs, a small FD rescue unit, the Monterey Fire Boat, and the Coast Guard scrambled their 47' MLB. After much standing around (or motoring around, in the case of the CG and Fireboat), everyone dispersed.

I joked to a friend of mine, wondering if it was an acquaintance of ours, who was trying kayak diving for the first time. Turned out it was. Someone on shore had seen him capsize his kayak, and watched him having problems getting back on board. They called 911 (our emergency number in the US), reporting a drowning kayaker. All that despite the fact the guy was aout 50 yards from shore on a calm day, was in full dive exposure protection, and was probably in about 15 feet of water. He was back on board by the time the CG reached him. He could have swum to shore inthe same time.

Bottom line: it's not always an emergency when someone goes in the water. A little discretion before calling can save a lot of hassle.

jky

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Polwart

Personally I think this is a bit paranoid about the risk of capsize

Hmmmm

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Hmmmm

The description of conditions on scene is not exactly what I would expect people to take their toddlers out in. I may be wrong, but i'll also speculate that the helm was muck.g around, or at the very least giving it max throttle rather than plodding on back to shore.

[Poly]

Jky, our cg's position is they would much rather get some false alarms with good intent than not have the public call in every possibility.

On the one hand he could easily swim 50 yds to shore, but in other circumstances he might have been tangled in a pot marker, been getting dragged out to sea by a current, or too exhausted to make the swim safely, and the general advice when in distress is never to abandon your boat. Of course the cg line would be if he had told them what he was doing and had a vhf radio with him then they could have avoided launching all the resources, or at least stood them down early.

[Ribochet]

Just to confirm that the Lifeboats position is also for anyone who believe they are in difficulties or witness others in problems to make the call - the Coastguards review every call/s and it is they that make the decision to task any of the SAR resources that they have at their disposal.

The barmouth at the entrance to the river Bann can produce a difficult sea state especially in strong north or north westerly winds.

[willk]

My only input to this one is that the helo flew over me gaff on the return leg. I flipped on the VHF - the crew sounded fairly happy about not being needed.

They had done a more serious MAYDAY response a week or so earlier, when the Amy Jane sank from under her six crew, 15 miles north of Malin. All crew recovered in a textbook rescue by the helo, from their liferaft, minutes before Portrush RNLI arrived on scene. That rescue also involved the Stornoway S92 and Lough Swilly RNLI.

Bottom line is it's better to have the public phone in the odd ringer but save the unfortunate crew that can't make the call themselves.

[Poly]

Oh dear - and again:

Maritime and Coastguard Agency Press Office: FOUR PEOPLE RESCUED FROM THE WATER OFF EXMOUTH SEAFRONT

[spartacus]

Originally Posted by Polwart

Oh dear - and again:

Maritime and Coastguard Agency Press Office: FOUR PEOPLE RESCUED FROM THE WATER OFF EXMOUTH SEAFRONT

Only one wearing a lifejacket in F7 conditions.

[Ribochet]

Oh dear - oh dear - oh dear

Once again the "call" came from a 3rd party.

As well as the advice from the Coastguards at the end of the report a top tip is also to keep a recognised means of distress signalling on your person ie VHF radio or PLB.