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Paul Annapolis · 04-04-2014, 16:57

Well, it could be a young person with no clue about such matters--entirely plausible, but where is he now? Why not a further entry or thanks at least to Atoll who helped him out? If you had a special friend doing this voyage would you not have had a float plan and information about emergency communication? Maybe yes. Maybe no. Would you not have first gone to the US State Department? Maybe yes. Maybe no. Would you have tried to get the State Department on Google and then say when you looked up "embassy" all you got was information about hotels? Would your first source of assistance be a sailors forum online? If that were the case, would you not provide more information about the boat? It documentation number? Its description? Last known port? Anything other than a really nice boat in the Med? Was there no trusted friend? ANyone? Look, I could go on and one--but this whole OP was just too odd for so many reasons. So, where is the OP now? And how come he had no information but the "coast Guard" helped him? No further information from this fellow at all? Please-go back and re-read the posts.

Sailing Cowboy · 04-04-2014, 17:27

Why would he come back on here Paul. He is not a sailor/boater and his question was answered and supposed problem solved. Lets put this one to bed.

Paul Annapolis · 04-04-2014, 17:49

Why would he come back on here? Why not? He came here for help in the first place instead of going to authorities who supposedly helped him ultimately. Uhhh yeah sure. How about to follow up or say thanks? You said it..."supposed problem solved"......supposed being the operative word. I still think it was bogus. Phoney. Fake. Fraudulent. Sham. Deceptive. Spurious. BS. Sea stories. Yarns. Apocrypha. We may never know but surely, of all these salty folks out here I can't be the only one who smelled rotten fish...there are phoney shams perpetrated on the web all day long. And who knows why? But I still say it did not pass the smell test. Don't you ever get emails from people whose wallet waa stolen overseas and they only need $1500 to get back home? Or the staff sergeant in the Marines in Afghanistan whose wife is a missionary and he wants to rent you his house you saw on Craigs List but he's overseas so just send him your social security number, credit card account etc...and on and on and on..... the boy who cried wolf...yelling fire in a crowded theater. I am more than willing to admit that I may be wrong. How come nobody else will even consider that maybe, just maybe my hunch is correct?

transmitterdan · 04-04-2014, 18:29

He did come back on here and said the info he got from Atoll helped him get the answers he needed. Problem solved. Why don't we let it go at that and be happy that all is well.

Paul Annapolis · 05-04-2014, 04:38

I still think it is bogus and unless someone can prove this was real, I am not convinced that this was a true emergency or a true story. Fake and phony maydays are made on vhf as a quick web search will show. And speaking of quick web searches this OP claimed he could not find the US embassy online and only came up with hotels when he searched under embassy. Please! Here is the US embassy's easy to find website. Home | Embassy of the United States Algiers, Algeria The only reason I can figure for the negative response to my hunch is that someone is embarrassed because he got faked out by a false OP. Yes, it is a good thing that people on here armed with impressive knowledge and experience are trying to be helpful and answer a distress call. That is to be respected. Would it not be a shame if it were fake? You know the boy who cried wolf. If your girlfriend were hiking in the wilderness in a foreign country and had some sort of gps that you could also track from home and be sophisticated enough to know that and you thought she were lost or in an emergency, would you go online to a hiker's or outdoors forum or would you first contact the department of state? He could track her on GPS but there was not satellite phone? No ssb? No Other form f communication? This person could find two online boater's forums but not the US Embassy or US Coast Guard? If someone on here can prove this was real, then okay and I am wrong. But we cannot prove a negative, only a positive, so how can we know this was real? And it is important so we don't let other things happen and so we alert others online. Until then, based on not passing my sniff test, I'm betting it was a false distress call. Agree with me or disagree with me but I believe if it was important enough to answer the call, it is equally important to know if it was fake because there were some oddities about the whole thing. And no, I have never sailed the Med. I don't know about its conditions but what I found online for Algiers showed calm sea conditions. But I have responded to many Maydays and Pan Pan calls as a concerned boater and was a Coast Guard Auxiliarist for ten years and did comm watches at USCG stations. But this is not about me and having a well developed BS-ometer does not make me a conspiracy theorist either. But for some fun, watch this:

German Coast guard trainee - YouTube

**atoll** · 05-04-2014, 05:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Annapolis

I still think it is bogus and unless someone can prove this was real, I am not convinced that this was a true emergency or a true story. Fake and phony maydays are made on vhf as a quick web search will show. And speaking of quick web searches this OP claimed he could not find the US embassy online and only came up with hotels when he searched under embassy. Please! Here is the US embassy's easy to find website. Home | Embassy of the United States Algiers, Algeria The only reason I can figure for the negative response to my hunch is that someone is embarrassed because he got faked out by a false OP. Yes, it is a good thing that people on here armed with impressive knowledge and experience are trying to be helpful and answer a distress call. That is to be respected. Would it not be a shame if it were fake? You know the boy who cried wolf. If your girlfriend were hiking in the wilderness in a foreign country and had some sort of gps that you could also track from home and be sophisticated enough to know that and you thought she were lost or in an emergency, would you go online to a hiker's or outdoors forum or would you first contact the department of state? He could track her on GPS but there was not satellite phone? No ssb? No Other form f communication? This person could find two online boater's forums but not the US Embassy or US Coast Guard? If someone on here can prove this was real, then okay and I am wrong. But we cannot prove a negative, only a positive, so how can we know this was real? And it is important so we don't let other things happen and so we alert others online. Until then, based on not passing my sniff test, I'm betting it was a false distress call. Agree with me or disagree with me but I believe if it was important enough to answer the call, it is equally important to know if it was fake because there were some oddities about the whole thing. And no, I have never sailed the Med. I don't know about its conditions but what I found online for Algiers showed calm sea conditions. But I have responded to many Maydays and Pan Pan calls as a concerned boater and was a Coast Guard Auxiliarist for ten years and did comm watches at USCG stations. But this is not about me and having a well developed BS-ometer does not make me a conspiracy theorist either. But for some fun, watch this:

German Coast guard trainee - YouTube

i couldn't care less one way or another wheter it was real or not,the information i provided was correct for the location of the vessel,as was the procedure for making an enquiry such as the ops to the relevant authority,hence the quick response.

if you are that worried,call up MRCC UK and ask them to confirm if their was an enquiry about a vessel in algeria,it will be in last nights call log.

call would have been at roughly 20:05 utc,friday 4 april

For general HM Coastguard/Search and Rescue enquiries

Tel: 0044 23 8032 9486
E-mail: SAR.Response@mcga.gov.uk

arcticcatmatt · 05-04-2014, 05:54

Wow.. Why the need for this? Why would someone think this is fake? Look.. I moderate a snowmobile forum. I know forums can be very handy for assistance so it brought me to here. I have no idea about embassy's or MRCC or any of that, some of you provided that information for me. I never talked to someone at an embassy or whatever, it was the MRCC that gave me a hand and was able to find out their safety which was my soul intent.

Days ago she was skyping with me saying how much she loves me and misses me and doesn't want to go 7? days without talking to me but will have to as the sail to malta.. so to see it go off course to Algeria and not hear from her, is cause for concern. Better safe than sorry. It was a simple phone call.

Its an admirable quality to show concern for someone you care about, and even more noble when you act on that concern. God forbid something had happened and I didn't act on that concern out of fear of making someone mad.

No need for all this crazy analizing. I used some maritime website that shows all the vessels on a map. It also shows the wind and knots.. That is how I seen the wind there was 31-37 knots. Trust me, I have much better things to do with my time than getting on a sailing forum and making up a fake story wasting peoples time. Thanks again and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Moderator can feel free to lock this thread. It's served its purpose.

transmitterdan · 05-04-2014, 06:03

Matt,

Please don't give it another thought. Glad you got the info you needed. You're welcome here as are many others looking for info on loved ones. You are not the first nor will you be the last.

chuckr · 05-04-2014, 06:08

we are in tunisia and there is a real nasty out there right now -- we got 25-40k winds in the marina around the coast and in protection -- a very substantial low came thru the area and if the capt saw it he headed in as any smart sailor would do -- and yea probably not a lot of wifi in that part of the world -- kinda controlled you know

not surprising at all

but i got to love those annapolis sailors -- most are just the greatest sailors in the world who can't find their way out the bay -- great sailors no doubt but --- the only place we sailed to and stopped a couple of times and never ever want to go back to as we got verbally abused for anchoring to close, should not be here regardless of what the chart shows, threats of calling the harbor master ect -- never had that problem anywhere else just annapolis -

as for why here -- maybe the gf told him about this site or maybe a hoax -- if true then good to go -- if false then it was nice to see that this forum helped someone out who needed help and just shows the knowledge base here --

hoppy · 05-04-2014, 06:39

Captured UFO's are at Area 51, the CIA was behind 9/11, the moon landings were fake and this thread is just a hoax.

Time to batten down the hatches in our preppers fortresses as the New World Order Government is about enslave the masses

Kenomac · 05-04-2014, 06:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Annapolis

This whole thing seems fishy.....re-read the OP and his follow posts...it does not pass the smell test....

Paul,

You don't know what you're talking about...

Sailors clear into harbors everyday to take shelter from bad weather, weather is unpredictable and not always what's posted on some weather site. The winds at this time of year in the Med can be especially strong and unpredictable. The Internet overseas is not as it is here in the US, it's mostly unobtainable, the same with cellular service. Friends and family get worried and ask for help. Thanks so much to Atoll for helping this individual. Glad everything was OK.

jtsailjt · 05-04-2014, 06:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Annapolis

Why would he come back on here? Why not? He came here for help in the first place instead of going to authorities who supposedly helped him ultimately. Uhhh yeah sure. How about to follow up or say thanks? You said it..."supposed problem solved"......supposed being the operative word. I still think it was bogus. Phoney. Fake. Fraudulent. Sham. Deceptive. Spurious. BS. Sea stories. Yarns. Apocrypha. We may never know but surely, of all these salty folks out here I can't be the only one who smelled rotten fish...there are phoney shams perpetrated on the web all day long. And who knows why? But I still say it did not pass the smell test. Don't you ever get emails from people whose wallet waa stolen overseas and they only need $1500 to get back home? Or the staff sergeant in the Marines in Afghanistan whose wife is a missionary and he wants to rent you his house you saw on Craigs List but he's overseas so just send him your social security number, credit card account etc...and on and on and on..... the boy who cried wolf...yelling fire in a crowded theater. I am more than willing to admit that I may be wrong. How come nobody else will even consider that maybe, just maybe my hunch is correct?

But he didn't try to rent anyone a house and he didn't use his story as a pretext to ask for money or to get your social security number. He only asked for advice and when he did, he used it and got the results he wanted and thanked Atoll for providing it. I just can't see anything nefarious there.

Of course his approach to solving his problem was different than what we would have done under similar circumstances. He's apparently younger and less traveled than most of us, and is an avid snowmobiler who would know just what's best to do if he hit a tree and badly damaged his sled 50 miles from civilization whereas most of us who are more comfortable at sea would probably not have a clue what to do. Sailing and dealing with foreign governments and even doing google searches for government agencies he's never dealt with or even heard of before are clearly not his areas of expertise but that doesn't make him "fishy."