S/V Far Star Overdue

[lenseman]

EASTERN SOUTH PACIFIC.

38 FOOT S/V FAR STAR, WHITE HULL,ONE PERSON ON BOARD, OVERDUE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS (00° 40'S 090° 33'W) TO TAHITI (17° 40'S 149° 25'W). LAST KNOWN POSITION 07° 54'S 111° 06'W AT 261930Z JAN.

VESSELS IN VICINITY REQUESTED TO KEEP A SHARP LOOKOUT, ASSIST IF POSSIBLE. REPORTS TO MRCC PAPEETE,

INMARSAT-C: 582422799192, PHONE: 68 946 5316, FAX: 68 942 3915, E-MAIL: MRCCPAPEETE@MAIL.PF. (150731Z FEB 2012)

[OnlyADream]

Update:

Date: 2012/02/22 00:00
All USERS NOTICE, FEB 22, 2012
RCC AUSTRALIA HAS BEEN ADVISED BY MRCC PAPEETE (SAR COORDINATORS) AND THE NEXT OF KIN OF THE SAFETY OF GREGORY BLACKWOOD-WHITE AND THE SLOOP FAR STAR. THE YACHT IS CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING STEERING PROBLEMS AT PAPEETE, TAHITI AND ASSISTANCE IS BEING PROVIDED BY FRENCH AUTHORITIES.
NO FURTHER ASSISTANCE REQUIRED
KIND REGARDS
RCC AUSTRALIA
BT

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, OnlyADream; and thanks for the update.

[OnlyADream]

Hi Gord,

Thank you for the welcome aboard. As you can tell from my name I am still dreaming and probably longer away from cruising now than I thought I was last year.

I am going about everything just about the opposite direction as most. I have no boat but I just got my amature radio license and I am getting into HF and Winlink communications with the hope that I may be posting position updates from the Atlantic someday.

I hope my very brief "update" did not sound rude, I just thought it would be good to close the thread. I was also happy to be "in the know" with my new communications ability!

Scott.

[deckofficer]

Scott,

Looking forward to meeting you out cruising. I also got my HAM ticket first (1963), before getting my first boat that could cruise, but pretty close to the time of my first day sailor, a Flying Junior.

[lenseman]

Strangely similar name of yacht overdue:


UNITED KINGDOM TO AUSTRALIA. 26 FOOT S/V SEASTAR, WHITE HULL, ONE PERSON ON BOARD, OVERDUE FALMOUTH (50-09N 005-04W) TO PERTH (31-57S 115-51E) OR WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND (41-17S 174-46E). VESSELS IN VICINITY REQUESTED TO KEEP A SHARP LOOKOUT, ASSIST IF POSSIBLE. REPORTS TO RCC AUSTRALIA, PHONE: 61 26 230 6811, FAX: 61 26 230 6868 E-MAIL: RRCCAUS@AMSA.GOV.AU. (272302Z FEB 2012)

[OnlyADream]

Hi Bob,

Now that I am starting to make a few 20 meter contacts most of my sailing daydreams have changed. I am no longer isolated out on the water (in my mind) -- I am calling CQ with /MM!

I still have not been able to pick up any HAM MM traffic in the atlantic and pacific. I hear the daily net on 14.300 of course, but I never hear any boats check in.

I do not want to hijack this thread too much more, but I was wondering if I could get your opinion on using HAM radio for high seas communication. Do you think a HAM HF radio alone is enough or do I need Marine SSB to really keep in touch with other yachts and commercial traffic? It seems like I have a better chance of getting ahold of someone with a telephone or internet quickly (for an emergency) with HAM HF but I have to assume most boats are listening on the marine SSB.

Assuming there are no emegencies I really like the idea of calling CQ and just having a ragchew ship to shore -- I cant do that with marine SSB and I probably cant aford two HF radios.

73 de AC0ZA

Scott.

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by OnlyADream

Hi Bob,

Now that I am starting to make a few 20 meter contacts most of my sailing daydreams have changed. I am no longer isolated out on the water (in my mind) -- I am calling CQ with /MM!

I still have not been able to pick up any HAM MM traffic in the atlantic and pacific. I hear the daily net on 14.300 of course, but I never hear any boats check in.

I do not want to hijack this thread too much more, but I was wondering if I could get your opinion on using HAM radio for high seas communication. Do you think a HAM HF radio alone is enough or do I need Marine SSB to really keep in touch with other yachts and commercial traffic? It seems like I have a better chance of getting ahold of someone with a telephone or internet quickly (for an emergency) with HAM HF but I have to assume most boats are listening on the marine SSB.

Assuming there are no emegencies I really like the idea of calling CQ and just having a ragchew ship to shore -- I cant do that with marine SSB and I probably cant aford two HF radios.

73 de AC0ZA

Scott.

No one but old decrepit farts use ham nowadays.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by OnlyADream

Hi Bob,

Now that I am starting to make a few 20 meter contacts most of my sailing daydreams have changed. I am no longer isolated out on the water (in my mind) -- I am calling CQ with /MM!

I still have not been able to pick up any HAM MM traffic in the atlantic and pacific. I hear the daily net on 14.300 of course, but I never hear any boats check in.

I do not want to hijack this thread too much more, but I was wondering if I could get your opinion on using HAM radio for high seas communication. Do you think a HAM HF radio alone is enough or do I need Marine SSB to really keep in touch with other yachts and commercial traffic? It seems like I have a better chance of getting ahold of someone with a telephone or internet quickly (for an emergency) with HAM HF but I have to assume most boats are listening on the marine SSB.

Assuming there are no emegencies I really like the idea of calling CQ and just having a ragchew ship to shore -- I cant do that with marine SSB and I probably cant aford two HF radios.

73 de AC0ZA

Scott.

tel no for falmouth coastguard,world wide gmdss/sar co-ordinator is
0044 1326 317575

[btrayfors]

Originally Posted by reed1v

No one but old decrepit farts use ham nowadays.

Yeah, perhaps that's because imbeciles need not apply :-)

[atoll]

Originally Posted by btrayfors

Yeah, perhaps that's because imbeciles need not apply :-)

+1

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by reed1v

No one but old decrepit farts use ham nowadays.

The UN called. They want you to get the Israelis and the Arabs to kiss and make up.

[reed1v]

chuckle chuckle

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by reed1v

No one but old decrepit farts use ham nowadays.

I resemble that remark.

I think with the code finally dropped, it is the perfect means to ragchew with other cruisers. When I wanted to break from my solitude I just fired up the HAM radio. Last time I was out cruising it was before good solid state amps were available from vendors, so I rolled my own. Don't get me wrong, the 100 watts from a stock radio is just fine, but my make-up is like Tim~the toolman, mo-power. On my next boat, if it already has marine HF, then I'll have marine HF, but I will always have HAM.

[reed1v]

ah the old days of ham. the new days of internet, voip, and now face to face chats. even without the code(which is a real shame since it gets through even with a tremendous amount of noise in the air), ham is a real equipment nuisance. now if they got ham onto the cell phone systems and worldwide phone nets, then ham would not be in danger of fading away. make it an iphone app.

since the average age of a ham is well over 100 years old, its a dying sport. in fact it may well be a leading cause of death since ham operators have a higher death rate than non hams.