Emergency Maday East Solent

[Coddy]

Hi all

 

I am not sure if some of you heard but a fishing boat got into difficulties on Saturday.

 

A friend of mine was out near by and heard everything, below is his words of how things happened.

 

After ferrying everything out to boat we left the mooring at about 06:40 and made our way out to the western edge of the Spoils again. As we were passing the Nab Tower we heard on the VHF a boat in some distress, evidently it was a Fast Fisher 20 with a split in the hull and taking in water, the voice was quite panicky and he had obviously not taken his VHF exam as his RT procedure made the CG job of gaining the relevant information a lot longer than it should have done! Initially he could not give an accurate position, "I'm east of the Nab" then gave an inaccurate bearing of the Nab tower, then he tried to give his lat / long from his GPS, initially the figures he gave out were utter rubbish, eventually he managed to give his correct position.

 

Perhaps I'm being a bit unfair on him as he was obviously stressed, but my point is that if he had known the correct RT procedure (he didn't even give a May Day or Pan Pan) it would have saved probably about 6-7 minutes!

 

Anyway I was able to plot his position (he was near Utopia) and about 4 miles away, so for me I was about half an hour away. He was getting really panicky, when told it would be ten minutes for the Lifeboat to arrive, he responded that he would have sunk by then. Other boats were responding, the Bembridge Lifeboat was on her way and India Juliet (the rescue helicopter) was airborne.

 

Another boat got to him first, soon followed by India Juliet and the Lifeboat. As it turned out it was all a bit of over reaction, the assessment of the Lifeboat crew was that the boat's own bilge pump was coping with the ingress of water perfectly well and they would escort the boat back to Portsmouth, just in case, needless to say we didn't hear any more.

 

Now I have taken the VHF exam an I am sure my heart would quicken some what if I was in the same position.

 

To help combat this I have printed out a Mayday card and laminated it and stuck it on the console so that anyone using the radio knows exactly what to say and how to say it. Even if it was me that was unable to make that call.

I always show everyone on the boat how to use the radio especially when it is on dual watch. You are unable to send in this mode!!!

 

What would you do in this situation?

Have you prepared for this?

Do you carry wooden plugs?

 

It is a bit of a distance out at the Needles?

 

Coddy

 

[Swainiac]

Dave, Ive justb completed my VHF ticket, and found the course very straightforward. But I am in the minority of people who have used radios all their lives in the Armed Forces, and latterly, the Police Service. In any given situation on the radio, the basics of ABC need to be adhered to.....A - Acuracy, B - Brevity, and C - Clarity. As soon as the operator has made several calls, even passing local info to the CG, he or she is comfortable with speaking to them on a casual basis, then the Pan Pan, or Mayday calls, if and when needed, are not too far outside of comfort zones.

 

Your idea of a laminate card is an excellent one, you may even like to leave a section blank, so when finally at the mark, u can post the LAT/LONG in the gap with a chinagraph pencil, it will save time for the initial response, and you can read this info direct to the emergency service. This should form part of the immediate action drill, and may prove to save a life.

 

On a happier note....I believe I passed my ticket!!!!

 

Regards, Rich

[Adam F]

I too have also just got my ticket. I was able to use the radio before hand, but would not have been comfortable doing a Maday or PanPan.

 

Ok, so it cost around

[Newboy]

It's one thing being able to use the VHF in the confort of the classroom or in a sunday day out in the Solent, with light weterly wind no waves, calm as you like ...... and being ankle deep in water, rods everywhere, lines, kids running around screaming and you shouting for the missus to make sure the kids have the lifejacket (they should have already, but just make sure) and they know how to use the pull string shall the auto fail to work. and worryingly, is the battery clear of the water?

 

I suppose if we practise the drill time and time again then it will make the actual event much less exciting (or panicking ....lol)

[duncan]

without question adding even a minor incident can create havock with our abiility to think straight. Rich's point about habit is spot on but fortunately we don't get too much practice with real life drama.

As an example I will share an additional element from the Sunday before last's incident.......

Phaeton is disabled in the area of the Spoils off Poole (fuel blockage of the electromagnetic solenoid it eventually transpired) it's getting dark, chop is increasing and everyone else has gone home

Early call to Greatwhite who is busy hanging a small conger froma hook on the fuel barge in Poole Harbour while we try to establish what's up - we know it's fuel but not what.

GW and Shelia Marie offer to come and get us - we get it started then it dies again a couple of times, have a go at filters, bleeding etc but aren't making huge progress. As it's dark now I push the button on the radio to switch on the backlight before responding to a call from GW, and he starts to have difficulty hearing us SM can't hear us either but we can hear them. Phones are utilised and tow established but it's not until we are almost in that I get round to thinking properly about the radio, retracec last actions and establish that the light button has 2 functions and 1 of them seems to cut the transmit capability.......a quick 1/2 and we are transmitting properly again However that's not all - clearing out the boat that night I pick up the electronics bag (everthing gets stripped everytrip) and move the HH over to get the main back in........! Now when PaulJ had joind the boat we ran through the safety briefing as he hadn't been aboard before and included was "the HH is charged and stored in the yellow bag here ->". When the radio 'transmission failure' occured not one out of the 4 seasoned mariners at the helm station thought to get the spare radio! I hesitate to suggest that had our primary issue been communication we would have remembered it

[great white]

Its always a balancing act to get all the things we need to do done.

 

Add a bit of adrenalin when things are not going to plan and things do tend to be overlooked.

 

I have had a VHF licence for a long time and use it all the time at work, but a live rescue situation still gets nervous, speeds the speech etc

 

I would like a copy of your laminated aid de memoir for the boat and my office please.

Not only for me but also for the crew if anything happened to me. {More important than for me]

 

Cheers

Charlie

[Coddy]

Hi all

 

For those who want a Mayday card go to my web site http://fishing_boats.tripod.com/ click on Boat safety and at the bottom of the page is a click position for a form or a zip file if you want to download it.

 

Fill in the relevent spaces and then go to a photocopier and strick it down from A4 to A5.

Get it laminated and jobs done apart from putting on the boat!

 

Hope this helps some of you

 

Coddy

 

ps If paul wants to add it to this web site he is more thn welcome to copy it

 

 

[great white]

Thanks Coddy

Have you done the same for Pan Pan and Pan Pan medico?

 

Charlie

[Brian]

Coddy

 

Only one comment on the Mayday card, after ensuring set is "Switched on" and "On channel 16", mine also states "Ensure High Power is selected".

[Seamouse]

Coddy

 

Only one comment on the Mayday card, after ensuring set is "Switched on" and "On channel 16", mine also states "Ensure High Power is selected".

I think sets will only transmit at high power on Channel 16, though I could be wrong

 

Steve

[domino]

Attached is a copy of the Mayday instructions I carry on Domino.

 

Pretty much the same as Coddy's... it is copied directly from the info sent to me by the Coastguard, following my registering Domino with them (CG66 scheme?).

 

Any one is wlcome to make use of it if they wish... probably best to change the references to Domino to your own boat's name though.

 

Cheers,

Alan

[duncan]

I believe it is critical to give both the general area and the numbers for 2 reasons -

1. Other boats - many will perk up their ears on a mayday but are less likely to plot your position or imediatley understand their ability to help if you only quote the numbers.

2. It enables the CG to ratify, or clarify, the numbers you give them.

 

A few miles of Swanage / can see the Nab - Needles are all it takes. Even 'we came out of Poole Harbour' this morning.....'

 

If you don't have the numbers then try and be accurate on distance and bearing but as already said don't guess.

[Adam F]

Thanks Coddy

Have you done the same for Pan Pan and Pan Pan medico?

 

I think you will find that Pan Pan Medico no longer exists as from the recent introduction of DSC, you just use a normal Pan Pan.

 

Was told this by the VHF instructor on my recent course.

 

Adam

[Coddy]

Hi Charlie

 

No I didn't do one for Pan Pan.

 

The reason was that if "I" was not giving the emergency call it may confuse others who do not know or understand the differances who might use the radio if I was disabled or missing!

 

Whilst it might be "technicaly" wrong to use a Mayday call for a Pan Pan, it will make others sit up and listen. It does me ............... but I am just nosey!

 

A good point about checking for full power, I took the info directly from the RYC Day Skipper course notes when I was doing my ticket and it did not mention about full power. Then again I always leave my set on full power anyway.

 

Coddy

[Brian]

Then again I always leave my set on full power anyway.

 

I bet most of us do.

[Maverick Martin]

I don

[toerag]

Full power vs low power - If you're sat 2 miles out from the coastguard station calling on ch16 on high power they won't be able to hear anyone transmitting from further away, hence the reason you're not allowed to use your radio in harbours. The signal with the highest power is the one that gets received, hence the reason I often hear St. Peter Port radio replying to a vessel calling them when I can't hear the calling vessel - St. Peter Port has a higher aerial and more power. When the pressure's high I even hear Brixham and Portland coastguard sometimes.

[duncan]

If you're sat 2 miles out from the coastguard station calling on ch16 on high power they won't be able to hear anyone transmitting from further away, hence the reason you're not allowed to use your radio in harbours

 

??????????

 

1. You can use your radio in harbours..........

2. For CG station I assume you mean aerial - most actually have several aerials in different locations covering seperate waters. Whilst they will be listening on 16 they have others at the same locations listening and transmitting on different frequencies. You may drown out someone else on that aerial but not necessarily on others.

 

As was said before arranging to use a calling channel away from 16, and on 1W (low power) for close by is good practice.

[Paul D]

Low power / High power is not necessarily the reason you can hear the coastguard replying to a vessel, yet you are unable to hear the vessel.

 

The reason you can hear the coastguard is because they have an enormous aerial with plenty of gain and height above the sea, whereas the vessel they are communicating with has a small aerial and is at sea level and will be out of range from your small aerial at sea level.

 

Reason for using low power ( I am not sure it is possible on CH 16 ) is to enable other users who are far enough away to be able to use the same channel. ( I think this is what you are alluding to here ?)

If high power is used then it will not be possible for other users to use that channel within a larger range - all down to "capture effect".