Coast Goard hovercraft hits unlit anchored sailboat with no radar reflector.

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

That is kinda hard to visualize, mate! So you get a return from 30 miles away. How did you know that it was from a sub periscope? Not likely that you could see it visually to identify it, not likely that it would still be there if you had gone to investigate (and why would you do so?).

Perhaps you could elaborate a bit on this incredible sighting.

Jim

As a former sub-sailor, I am wondering the same thing...

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

That is kinda hard to visualize, mate! So you get a return from 30 miles away. How did you know that it was from a sub periscope? Not likely that you could see it visually to identify it, not likely that it would still be there if you had gone to investigate (and why would you do so?).

Perhaps you could elaborate a bit on this incredible sighting.

Jim

Boatyarddog

[team karst]

Originally Posted by Davidla

I have thirty years plus of operating radars in the marine environment. I once picked up a submarine periscope at 30nm in a sea state 2. (Believe me they don't have radar reflectors.) I picked up yachts at that range and they did not have radar reflectors. A colleague picked up a fishing vessel cooler (esky) at about 20nm. This was completely made of plastic and had no radar signature at all! How did it get detected? It was carrying two refugees and it was lower in the water. Radar can detect a hole in the water easily. Thats why I can see whales in the great barrier reef at 30nm.
The problem with radar is it needs to be scanned continuously to be effective at dealing with issues such as this, by a competent operator who knows the area.

Define "nm". nautical meter??

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

We know the eyewitness account of the hovercraft at 10-20+ kts is wrong from AIS data. I think we discount the 10 ft report. The light in the bow is suspect due to the poor credibility of the eyewitness. Eyewitness accounts are rarely fact.

Damn Accurate given the data you mention.

They said 10 to 15 Knots, they were there, 10 ft from it, others saw it too.
It was doing 8, I might add the inertia of this vessel is massive, AT ANY SPEED.
Helm saw it to late, clipped the bow sprit.

But got by it, just a blip in the routine.
This time!

Don't know why you would discount EYE Witness statements.
There are more than One.
Boatyarddog

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Boatyarddog

Don't know why you would discount EYE Witness statements.
There are more than One.

Footnotes? Only one report of an eyewitness and based on demonstrated errors in fact suspect across the board. What else is there?

Ask anyone in the legal system, maritime or not, about the accuracy of eyewitnesses.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by team karst

Define "nm". nautical meter??

NM (nautical mile) 1.1508 statute miles
Statute mile. 5280 ft= 1 mile.
Boatyarddog

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Ask anyone in the legal system, maritime or not, about the accuracy of eyewitnesses.

Exactly!

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Footnotes? Only one report of an eyewitness and based on demonstrated errors in fact suspect across the board. What else is there?

Ask anyone in the legal system, maritime or not, about the accuracy of eyewitnesses.

Why?
Because it doesn't fit your narrative?
You weren't there, they were.
It's in the press, find it yourself.
There's some video too!
Sheesh!
Boatyarddog

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Boatyarddog

You weren't there, they were.
It's in the press, find it yourself.

Doesn't show up in my search. The one eyewitness I saw reported, Mr. Mandolin, has already been shown to be unreliable. You say there is more.

[bcboomer]

Originally Posted by Boatyarddog

Why?
Because it doesn't fit your narrative?
You weren't there, they were.
It's in the press, find it yourself.
There's some video too!
Sheesh!
Boatyarddog

The speed estimate is demonstrably exaggerated. You don't have to have been there to see that.

Have you looked at the video? The only 1 I found shows the hovercraft from a distance apparently moving at 3 or 4 kn. You can't draw any conclusions from that.

CCG probably referred to the boat as a sailboat because it has(had) a bow sprit. The former owner calls it a wood hulled cabin cruiser. (no mast or rigging)
The picture of the boat shows no evidence of a light.

A crew of only 2 is probably not a great idea at night given the deficiencies of the hovercraft.

[JSSailem]

I was just through Ganges Harbour in October.
Yes the seaplane markers take up the center of the waterway.
There is a major marker as you near the marina and the Seaplane designated area. It states 5 knots no wake.

The fairway near the moored boats with some at anchor is narrow at the extreme. Even with a maneuverable boat, 5 knots was to fast.

[TrentePieds]

Why all the kafuffle? If the owner of the "sailboat" - if it has one, which thee and me don't know - feels aggrieved, he will claim on his insurance. His insurance - if he has any - will subrogate on the insurer for the Canadian Federal Government - which is ALSO the Canadian Federal Government. If he has no insurance, it'll learn 'im to let 'is baby lie about where she shouldn't be!

So it'll most likely go like this: Hoverbase CO will say to the skipper of Siyay: "Wha' 'appen, Jim". Jim will say: "Damned wreck jumped out in front of me!". CO will say "Oh, okay". CO will phone up his superior at the DOF office on Kent Street in Ottawa and clue him in. The Superior on Kent Street will phone up his opposite number in the Treasury Department over on Main Street, and say, "Hey Jack - you wanna go for lunch?". The two of them will have a good lunch on the Canadian Tax Payer's dime, and that is where the whole thing will come to a blessed rest.

While all that is going on, the deckhands will have rubbed out the scuffmarks on Siyay's hull - if that's what you call it - and polished 'er up all shight and briny.

For those who's never been to Ganges, the distance, as the chopper flies, from the helipad at Lady Minto Hospital to the seaplane dock, which is, I dare say, where Siyay went, is all of 2/3 of a mile! On foot it's a ten minute walk. From LMH to Vancouver General Hospital is 29 miles. Nautical ones! So why didn't they use a helicopter? Because every single one capable of IFR was in use dealing with a flood the likes of which we've never seen. It was after dark so VFR wouldn't cut it, and besides the weather was deteriorating.

This day's helicopter task is to rescue tens of thousands of dairy cattle that may very well drown if we, on the Canadian side of the 49th, don't fix the problems that ensue from the deficiencies of the diking of the Nooksack River in Washington State! If necessary we "longline" them out from their flooded farms by helicopter! Civilianized Hueys, actually. Ironic that - isn't it? :-)

It hard to know about stuff like that, and therefore to make apposite comments, if you are stuck in, say St. Augustine, FL :-). Best let us local yokels worry about how to deal with this kinda thing :-)

TrentePieds

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by bcboomer

Have you looked at the video? The only 1 I found shows the hovercraft from a distance apparently moving at 3 or 4 kn. You can't draw any conclusions from that.

Do you have a link to the video?

[team karst]

A huge hovercraft was a ridiculous choice for this mission.
Reminds me of a hook and ladder truck responding to a fender bender. At least there, its effective to block traffic

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by team karst

A huge hovercraft was a ridiculous choice for this mission.
Reminds me of a hook and ladder truck responding to a fender bender. At least there, its effective to block traffic

Well, when there is a state of emergency in the province and even the military resources are being deployed, well, you take what you can get.