Missing Vessel (Northern California), 4 souls

[Cormorant]

I witnessed a similar lag time for CG response while we sat in Provincetown harbor a couple of summers ago. A Mayday came over the VHF -- a 20-foot fishing skiff out by Race Point caught fire somehow and all three guys on board announced they were abandoning ship and jumping into the water. So the skiff is maybe 10 miles from the CG base in the harbor. Luckily it was summer, and spending a bit of time in the water isn't necessarily fatal.

So we're watching the CG pier, waiting to see their fast boat zoom out. . . . and waiting . . . Well, 20 minutes later, after another fishing boat has already plucked the guys from the water, we see the CG head out. What the --? Did they want to finish their lunch first? Bit of a mystery.

[s/v Jedi]

May be they see themselves more like guarding the coast instead of guarding life at sea. Or they need to ask CIA and homeland security for an background check of the persons in question first, to make sure it ain't terrorists.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

To all who think the coast guard is the holy grail of rescue, sorry to burst your bubble but they are not. Even had the poor family had a epirb it would still not have saved them.only a life raft may have helped w an epirb.

We were heading nw in hawks channel when the cg was in communications w a sinking commercial fishing vessel. This went on for an hour and a half it ended 2 hours later w the epirb going off and cg never finding them just the epirb. Wife kept asking wtf are they taking so long to assist?
Yes it was blowing 30-40kts we had to stay inshore could not head off. The all drowndd. G time to help a vessel less than 20 miles from land nearly 2 hours. CG pso not impressed, but it sure as hell a priority to stock up on rumrunners before heading offshore,,,,,

Just when was this incident? Odd that I've not heard of it before (and I've been here in Florida for 20+ years). It would have made pretty big news in the local sailing press if not local broadcast media, Non?

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

May be they see themselves more like guarding the coast instead of guarding life at sea. Or they need to ask CIA and homeland security for an background check of the persons in question first, to make sure it ain't terrorists.

Maybe. But perhaps they were (as they commonly do) trying to verify that the call wasn't BS as (too) many are. An asset deployed on a hoax call is an asset that's not available for real events and, in heavily populated venues the CG often gets multiple calls from multiple sources reporting the same incident (as do 911 operators). A single source call raises suspicions. Accordingly, the response isn't/can't be instantaneous--the Service just doesn't have all that many SAR assets which is why they frequently broadcast special alerts to all stations asking for anyone in the vicinity of an event to report any information and render assistance if possible. We hear these frequently in our area and sometimes several a day during long, holiday weekends during vacation months.

[trese31]

I don't hear Charmblow either...it sounded more like Carmglow to me, but not clear enough to tell for sure ....googling Carmglow I found someone on Twitter with the username Carmglo...but no hits for anything related to a sailboat....if it's not a hoax, a family will eventually be reported missing...

[Cpt Pat]

Report of boat sinking off Calif. possible hoax

... the Coast Guard handles several hundred hoax calls a year, some involving major rescue efforts.


Kurtis Thorsted, 55, of Salinas, Calif., was released from federal prison last summer after being convicted, for the second time, of making false calls to the Coast Guard. Court records show he made 51 distress calls over five months, claiming in one case to be in trouble in a kayak off the coast of Santa Cruz.


Report of boat sinking off Calif. possible hoax - NewsOn6.com - Tulsa, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports - KOTV.com |

Should you have a real emergency, these are the nutcases against which you are competing for CG assets. Get a DSC radio, get a registered MMSI (they're free), program the radio with the MMSI, and connect it to a GPS receiver! Then read the manual to learn how to use the distress function (what that red button does). Otherwise, take your chances that your mayday call will be interpreted as just another hoax.

Think of DSC as "caller ID for VHF." There's nothing to the DSC distress function that will prevent you from sending an old-fashioned voice distress call, and if you send a DSC distress message first, it will identify exactly where (if it's connected to GPS) and who (if you registered the MMSI) you are. It also sounds an extremely annoying alarm on every other modern DSC radio within range.

[micah719]

Think of DSC as "caller ID for VHF." There's nothing to the DSC distress function that will prevent you from sending an old-fashioned voice distress call, and if you send a DSC distress message first, it will identify exactly where and who you are. It also sounds an extremely annoying alarm on every other modern DSC radio within range.

Don't let Mr Thorsted get his hands on one.

[andrewsc]

Seems like a rush to pile on the coasties here. I have to admit when I listen to radio transmissions reporting this "emergency" or that It seems like there is a string of inane and often repeated questions. The reality is that they want to get the right data and yes they want everyone to put on a life jacket.

Last summer we were heading up the channel past the Cape Disappoint CG docks after a pretty rough bar crossing when a fishing boat called in that they had lost power and were drifting toward peacock spit (not good). There was a 47 foot motor life boat pulling in to the dock right as the call came in. If you were only hearing the radio transmission it seemed like they were taking forever and asking the same routine string of questions. The MLB immediately (I mean immediately, no way there was time for any dipatch transmission) pulled their lines back on board and went out at full throttle. Impressive to see and hear those boats in close quarters.

We continued to listen to the radio and as it turned out another fishing boat towed the disabled vessel in. If you only heard the radio transmission the coasties did a meek if moderately effective job at coordinating the rescue. The reality was they were the angel on the shoulder of those guys. If you are judging their response by what you hear on channel 16 I don't think that you are getting the whole picture.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by andrewsc

We continued to listen to the radio and as it turned out another fishing boat towed the disabled vessel in. If you only heard the radio transmission the coasties did a meek if moderately effective job at coordinating the rescue. The reality was they were the angel on the shoulder of those guys. If you are judging their response by what you hear on channel 16 I don't think that you are getting the whole picture.

Ehrmm.. the guy on 16 is not on that boat... if the guys on the boat would be anything like the guy on 16 then the USCG would get a bit more flack I'm sure.

[bobconnie]

Any one who thinks the CG don't do a job, needs to come on up to the Columbia River entrance. If you folks are as good on these puters as ya seem to be, ya sure should be able to see what Im talking about !! I hate folks that have an Idea based on what they hear and not what they SEE ! Ive seen the CG do some great things, and Ive seen em mess up! But let me tell ya I have Live friends who would not be on earth without the US Coast Guard! Thats my 2 cents for the CG dissers!!

[deckofficer]

Bob&Connie,

In defense of the CG that btw shared our pier at CMA, they have been handed a dual mandate ever since the flawed and failed "War on Drugs" dating back to Nixon. While I was at CMA, talking to the Coasties, they all prefer their search and rescue duties over being a LE arm for the federal government.

[EveningTide]

Cpt Pat- Thanks for the info. I have noticed how quiet it is at Half Moon Bay and wondered why. When sailing near Morro Bay I used to hear CG San Diego once in a while so when they want to be heard over a very wide area they can. CG has regular broadcasts (notice to mariners) that should be heard in all sea areas and these are the ones I expected to hear but did not. VTS talks to ships out beyond the Farallones (30 miles) so we know there is good communication at that range. Don't have any answer why as I went farther south I stopped hearing CG. There could be some holes in their coverage.

You are right about SPOT. It isn't quite an EPIRB but being able to transmit OK messages has advantages. A boat hit the Coronados Islands last year and his SPOT track was key in understanding how the accident might have happened. In this sudden crash there was no time for a Mayday although an EPIRB probably would have automatically activated.

[Saltyhog]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

Any one who thinks the CG don't do a job, needs to come on up to the Columbia River entrance. If you folks are as good on these puters as ya seem to be, ya sure should be able to see what Im talking about !! I hate folks that have an Idea based on what they hear and not what they SEE ! Ive seen the CG do some great things, and Ive seen em mess up! But let me tell ya I have Live friends who would not be on earth without the US Coast Guard! Thats my 2 cents for the CG dissers!!

I've been through that inlet. Yikes !!!! And it seems like the smaller the boat, the more fearless the idiot needing rescue is. CG earns their keep there.

[Cpt Pat]

Originally Posted by micah719

Don't let Mr Thorsted get his hands on one.

If he does, the GPS data will rat him out and tell the CG exactly where he is. It's possible to spoof the GPS receiver into thinking it's somewhere it isn't, but accomplishing that trick isn't trivial.

I got a false alarm once while I was at the Coyote Point Marina. The GPS pinpointed the house it came from in Foster City. The guy who triggered it had the police at his door in 5 minutes.

[Mark1977]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

Any one who thinks the CG don't do a job, needs to come on up to the Columbia River entrance. If you folks are as good on these puters as ya seem to be, ya sure should be able to see what Im talking about !! I hate folks that have an Idea based on what they hear and not what they SEE ! Ive seen the CG do some great things, and Ive seen em mess up! But let me tell ya I have Live friends who would not be on earth without the US Coast Guard! Thats my 2 cents for the CG dissers!!

I am not sure how your guys USCG is doing but, I have to say I am not impressed with ours. We had a distress call last week from 5 guys (all under 30) sunday night. They had a life raft, EPIRB , and survival suits, yet the search was called off 48 hours later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=kl7HtyxkC0M