Wreck dive in the making

[ItsBruce]

During our SI yesterday, we heard a rather interesting conversation between the Coast Guard and a vessel in distress. We could only hear the CG side of the conversation. However, it seems the vessel was taking on water. What is interesting is how utterly unprepared the boater was and how hard the CG had to work to get basic information necessary for either a rescue or to control the flooding. The CG had to request lat/lon 3 separate times; the boat's size and color, 2 times; how many adults and how many childres, 2 times; whether they had life preservers, 2 times; whether they had a dinghy or life boat, 2 times; and whether the water was cold or hot, 4 times. I assume the last was to ascertain if it was coming from the engine's cooling system. I lost count of the number of times the CG had to tell the boater to calm down and to slow down.

I was amazed how ill-prepared the boater was to assist with his own rescue. Incidentally, when the CG asked if any vessels were in the vicinity and gave the lat/lon, they only had the lat/lon to the nearest minute. Apparently, the boater did not or could not provde greater accuracy than that. Later, I plotted the lat/lon and found the boat was essentially in the middle of nowhere. Simply put, while the boat was only around 30 miles off the coast and 6 or 7 miles from Catalina, I could plot no course that would go from any one point on land to any other point on land (without using Hawaii or Alaska) that went anywhere near the boat's given position. (I'm guessing they were lost, too.)

There is a lot more to putting out to sea than writing a check to the boat broker, having him give you the keys and inviting friends out yachting. In any event, I've got the lat/lons and will try to find out if it actually went down.

 

[Cacia]

well it wasn't us.

I did buy a heavy duty innertube, among other things. is that what you mean?

I have water, rope, flares, smoke, first aid kit, extra marine radio, EPIRB, chapstick, extra sunglasses, extra GPS, flashlight, In my ditch bag.

I plan to sit in the innertube, put on the hat and glasses and apply chapstick...

what else do I need to know?

oh...I have an anchor with a lot of chain and line. Guess that keeps you from drifting out to sea as fast?

 

[do it easy]

what else do I need to know?

If the CG asks you a question- try to answer it the first time.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

There have been several occasions when I've copied a conversation that (abridged) went:
Boat: HELP HELP THE MOTOR WON'T START AND WE ARE DRIFTING TOWARDS THE ROCKS.
CG: Do you have an anchor.

At that point one of two (about equally likely) things happen:

A. There's a long pause while the boater drops the hook he hadn't thought about.
B. The USCG goes out code 3.

And then there's the rarer situation:

Boater: I've run out of gas and anchored. There's no cell phone coverage here, and
I can't raise TowBoat US. Would you call them for me?

I've heard that one ONCE. And got to have some fun with it -- a coworker coxwains
for him, and his son is another coworker. I got to tease them some. BTW, they guy
is no dummy -- he's a VP of a company you WOULD recognize.

And back to the subject at hand:

Position to 1 minute isn't bad -- that's about a mile. But what I don't understand is
that I can't think of a nav system that gives position to a minute. They are either
much better (GPS, LORAN) or much worse (sextant).

The hot cold water thing was probably because they had split a cooling water hose.
That's a common way to sink a boat. And a sharp coastie to be walking him through
the problem solving.

 

[DandyDon]

There is a lot more to putting out to sea than writing a check to the boat broker, having him give you the keys and inviting friends out yachting.

Saw a video recently of a guy who bought a helicopter - thought he'd figure out the flying part on his on. Short video. :11:

 

[nlbford]

If the CG asks you a question- try to answer it the first time.

Easy answer . . when you are sitting nice and safe and dry on land and not taking on water.

I don't mean to be snide, but I've owned a bigger ocean going boat and I always made it a point to be prepared and properly outfitted. I'm also one who has made it a point to relax and avoid panic when things go bad.

I've also been in stressful. dangerous and challenging time critical situations . . . I know from experience while multi-tasking it isn't always easy to hear exactly what you are being asked in such situations, much less respond quickly and correctly the first time.

Sure. If the Coast Guard is trying to help and asks a question, it is prefereable to answer exactly right and immediatley. Sometimes that is easier said than done.

 

[ItsBruce]

Its amazing how many boats do not have a plug for every through-hull. Who, besides me, routinely carries the wax portion of a toilet ring, to use in the event of a hole that is not neatly filled with a plug?

 

[Peo]

There have been several occasions when I've copied a conversation that (abridged) went:
Boat: HELP HELP THE MOTOR WON'T START AND WE ARE DRIFTING TOWARDS THE ROCKS.
CG: Do you have an anchor.

At that point one of two (about equally likely) things happen:

A. There's a long pause while the boater drops the hook he hadn't thought about.
B. The USCG goes out code 3.

And then there's the rarer situation:

Boater: I've run out of gas and anchored. There's no cell phone coverage here, and
I can't raise TowBoat US. Would you call them for me?

I've heard that one ONCE. And got to have some fun with it -- a coworker coxwains
for him, and his son is another coworker. I got to tease them some. BTW, they guy
is no dummy -- he's a VP of a company you WOULD recognize.

And back to the subject at hand:

Position to 1 minute isn't bad -- that's about a mile. But what I don't understand is
that I can't think of a nav system that gives position to a minute. They are either
much better (GPS, LORAN) or much worse (sextant).

The hot cold water thing was probably because they had split a cooling water hose.
That's a common way to sink a boat. And a sharp coastie to be walking him through
the problem solving.

A sextant can easily give a position accurate within a mile. It takes a while to get the fix, but it can definitely be done.

 

[rjack321]

Sometimes they ask twice for a reason and it isn't because they didn't hear the 1st time.

Second a bit of wax won't do squat in 1) cold water or 2) on a big boat with a hole a ways below the WL. Too much pressure. A better way is with a bunch of rags/towels. Put the rags over the tip of the plug and shove the whole lot into the hole. Tap with wrench, hammer, etc. to hold in place. Won't seal the hole, but slows the flow to the point where the bilge pump can handle it.

I can't think of any system reporting coordinates in minutes, except maybe a radio direction finder fix?? Odd.

Ain't Tuesday morning quarterbacking great

 

[rjack321]

Somehow this doesn't seem like a sextant kinda situation. If they could get a fix and reduce the sights while the engine room flooded they are way better than me!!