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Old 29-03-2017, 04:41   #1
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Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

| News | Isle of Man

Without further details it is a little hard to judge, but unless tide was pushing them onto rocks a lifeboat call seems overkill.

And they didn't have enough fuel for two miles of motoring? The passage they were on should only have been 50 miles.
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Old 29-03-2017, 05:13   #2
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

Why didn't they just do a fuel drop?
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Old 29-03-2017, 05:15   #3
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pirate Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

Super Bad Planning.. or they were just to knackered or could not be bothered to wait for the wind to get in.
In Poole on a summer Sunday it was a regular thing to see boats being towed in because owners had stayed at the Studland Arms to long and missed the tide making it difficult to get in and on their moorings in sufficient time to drive back home to London or the Midlands and arrive at a time they considered reasonable..
Thankfully however the RNLI being who they are will respond to every call for assistance.. even the fake unreasonable selfish calls by anus's..
They can't/won't refuse a call because next time it might just be the real M'coy..
RESPECT to all these Volunteers who make up these daring heroic crew's who risk all to save those of us at sea..


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Old 29-03-2017, 05:27   #4
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

They don't have a guy with a jetski that charges 10 £ / mile for towing? Seems like an easy way to make money.
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Old 29-03-2017, 05:30   #5
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

The Isle of Man has a rocky East coast with muddy harbours and very odd tides. The ebb tide that used to empty Douglas Harbour as fast as you could walk. We moored up once just after HW, bought fish and chips and in the time to do this the boat was 6ft lower down the harbour wall. Fish and chips abandoned I then walked the boat the length of the harbour because there was only a few inches to float in and that is how fast the tide went out.

That looks quite a good sized yacht along side the Tyne class LB, so should have been able to cover the 70 miles even if they had to motor the whole way.

So you have made a cock-up, run out of fuel and the tide is taking you on to the rocks. You fess up to the coastguard at 2am in the morning who have no choice but to spring into life and deploy a LB, hopefully as a PAN PAN tops. The coasties complete their forms with mission successful. The LB crew get a pat on the back and hopefully a bottle or two from the yacht. The RNLI mark it up as an emergency life saving operation rescuing x people which is good for the stats and next years fund raising from little old ladies inheritances. The yacht crew once in harbour can relax and learn from the mistake, which they will never forget or probably repeat.

All ends well.
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Old 29-03-2017, 05:30   #6
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

Great comment, Boatman. +1 to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a charity that saves people's lives at sea. If you or a loved one sails around the British Isles, consider a donation - https://rnli.org/
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Old 29-03-2017, 05:32   #7
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scot McPherson View Post
Why didn't they just do a fuel drop?
couple of miles from the LB station in calm weather, just tow it in and let the owner sort it in the morning.
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Old 29-03-2017, 06:22   #8
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

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Originally Posted by John_Trusty View Post
Great comment, Boatman. +1 to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a charity that saves people's lives at sea. If you or a loved one sails around the British Isles, consider a donation - https://rnli.org/
Actually I don't think you should donate to the RNLI, but let me explain that potentially astonishing statement that you may feel OTT.

The RNLI is not short of money, if fact it doesn't really know what to do with the millions in the bank and sufficient funds for operations for many years to come.

Now the RNLI are not the only rescue service around the British Isles. There ae are lots of independent lifeboat and coast rescue organisations, many of which operate to the same standards as the RNLI and are on call from the Coastguard in the same way the RNLI is. However, these unknown independent stations rely on a fraction of the donations that the RNLI receive because so few folk know about them.

Her is my local independent LB:

GAFIRS | Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service

2 miles away:

About - Portsmouth and Southsea Voluntary Lifeguards

6 miles away:

Home

12 miles away:

https://solent-rescue.org.uk/about-solent-rescue/

15 miles away:

Hamble Lifeboat

20 miles away:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandow...feboat_Station

40 miles away:

Freshwater Lifeboat - Home
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Old 29-03-2017, 08:16   #9
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

Great info, Pete, thank you!
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Old 29-03-2017, 08:26   #10
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

I take it that those who put them down have never had this situation come to them. Having been picked up by the USCG in similar circumstances when it was supposed to have been a simple 6 mile run from the launch to the mooring, and turned out to be potentially life threatening, I understand.

You can't go out without all possible gear that you might need: 2 days supply of food, extra fuel way above what you need, back up engine, anchor, extra clothing, sleeping bags, etc. Even a quick day sail can turn into a two day excursion, if things go bad. We were very embarrassed to call. But our engine died from ethanol poisoning, and we missed several opportunities early on because the more experienced sailor with us took us out into the middle of the bay looking for wind, when we should have immediately sailed for shore or back to the launch when the engine refused to start.

These people will never make the same mistakes again. We haven't. In my case I was the third becalmed sailboat that the USCG had picked up that day. They simply called it a boarding check. My wife visited the USCG station with all kinds of goodies the next week for the team, and they were happy since nobody usually thanks them.

We were drifting toward sharp rocks. And the next day brought fog with howling winds, so it might have become a nasty disaster since the two of us are in our mid 60's and one with us was in his mid 70's.

Those of you kibitzing have no idea what the real situation was, and probably have never had the bad luck to have to be picked up by the Coast Guard for something that was basically embarrassing and brought about by your own lack of preparedness.
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Old 29-03-2017, 10:08   #11
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

Quote:
Originally Posted by boatman61 View Post
Super Bad Planning.. or they were just to knackered or could not be bothered to wait for the wind to get in.
In Poole on a summer Sunday it was a regular thing to see boats being towed in because owners had stayed at the Studland Arms to long and missed the tide making it difficult to get in and on their moorings in sufficient time to drive back home to London or the Midlands and arrive at a time they considered reasonable..
Thankfully however the RNLI being who they are will respond to every call for assistance.. even the fake unreasonable selfish calls by anus's..
They can't/won't refuse a call because next time it might just be the real M'coy..
RESPECT to all these Volunteers who make up these daring heroic crew's who risk all to save those of us at sea..


One of the problems of the last 40 or so years of child-rearing and "self-esteem-building" in the classrooms is the creation of a couple of generations of shame-incapable swine. I lack a religious orientation, and while the exercise of shame has been used far too often to shut the oppressed down, the absence of shaming has allowed for some terrible selfishness to pass unremarked. What if the RNLI was towing some selfish boozer who missed the tide when a real emergency happened? (Missing one's train is at best an inconvenience). Would they drop the tow? Could they even make that call under whatever terms bind volunteers to the safety of those who call upon them?

Were I to do such a thing, I could not, due to shame, show my face on the pontoon, but in my experience of brazen arseholes, they are immune to such perceptions. It's what leads them to get "rescued" in the first place.

EDIT: Please note that I am referring to the type of situation Boatman describes, not actual cases of newish boaters in unfamiliar waters (which nonetheless, should be amenable to familiarization via sailing directions, pilots and the usual charts) who encounter unexpected developments. Experience, to those willing to learn, is the great teacher. That said, every club and/or marina knows "that guy" who is constantly getting into remarkably similar trouble or the know-nothing master of the universe whose jumbo powerboat dies and SS anchor is too nice to get dirty.
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Old 29-03-2017, 10:27   #12
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pirate Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

Quote:
Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy View Post
One of the problems of the last 40 or so years of child-rearing and "self-esteem-building" in the classrooms is the creation of a couple of generations of shame-incapable swine. I lack a religious orientation, and while the exercise of shame has been used far too often to shut the oppressed down, the absence of shaming has allowed for some terrible selfishness to pass unremarked. What if the RNLI was towing some selfish boozer who missed the tide when a real emergency happened? (Missing one's train is at best an inconvenience). Would they drop the tow? Could they even make that call under whatever terms bind volunteers to the safety of those who call upon them?

Were I to do such a thing, I could not, due to shame, show my face on the pontoon, but in my experience of brazen arseholes, they are immune to such perceptions. It's what leads them to get "rescued" in the first place.
The most common dodge is engine not working.. as for them dropping the tow.. unlikely as there's a large sandbank to the E of the channel and a training bank to the W.. in neaps the tide runs out of Poole at 3 kts+.. during springs its 5kt+ so one can imagine the chaos if they cast a tow adrift.. and the risks if the case was genuine fuel problems.
The shot at the tiller is me concentrating on the 40 odd boats ahead entering and leaving the entrance.. to my stern are bigger boats under sail and in the distance a wave of motor and sail bearing down.
Oh.. and chuck into this a regular Cross Channel large Cat ferry and RoRo's coming in or departing..
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Old 29-03-2017, 10:44   #13
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete7 View Post
Actually I don't think you should donate to the RNLI, but let me explain that potentially astonishing statement that you may feel OTT.

The RNLI is not short of money, if fact it doesn't really know what to do with the millions in the bank and sufficient funds for operations for many years to come.

Now the RNLI are not the only rescue service around the British Isles. There ae are lots of independent lifeboat and coast rescue organisations, many of which operate to the same standards as the RNLI and are on call from the Coastguard in the same way the RNLI is. However, these unknown independent stations rely on a fraction of the donations that the RNLI receive because so few folk know about them.

Her is my local independent LB:

GAFIRS | Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service

2 miles away:

About - Portsmouth and Southsea Voluntary Lifeguards

6 miles away:

Home

12 miles away:

https://solent-rescue.org.uk/about-solent-rescue/

15 miles away:

Hamble Lifeboat

20 miles away:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandow...feboat_Station

40 miles away:

Freshwater Lifeboat - Home
Good information Pete and great help if you are in trouble around the "Isle of Wight" area, but these rescue services are far from being anywhere near The "Isle of Man". Don't confuse these two islands, they're a hell of a long way apart by water.
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Old 29-03-2017, 11:34   #14
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

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Don't confuse these two islands, they're a hell of a long way apart by water.
Nah, they are only weeks slow sailing apart, almost next door. As I said we used to go to the IOM for fish and chips, a grand day out. Oh and they both are covered by the RNLI, which also do a grand job, but occasionally someone needs to fly the flag for the independents.

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Old 29-03-2017, 11:50   #15
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Re: Lifeboat called due to lack of wind

Maybe the US actually has a decent system. If it's life threatening, call the USCG. If you run out of gas, breakdown or just feel like it, call Seatow or US Towboat or whoever and pay them (or have your insurance pay them) to tow you in or bring you some gas.
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