Heard On The VHF Whilst Out Sailing

[SEMIJim]

This may seem off-topic for this sub-forum, but it's not, because this is stuff we heard on the radio installed in our sailboat, and while we were out sailing.

Last weekend heard somebody report to the CG a boat sinking off Gull Island. Debris in the water, nobody in the water they could spot. Saw the CG helicopter headed in that general direction a while later. Multiple PAN-PAN's by the CG throughout the remainder of our sail and motor back to our slip.

Never heard another word about it. Nothing on the news. None of our sail club mates heard about it.

Wonder what was up with that?

Today: Some boater near one of the shipping channel buoys calls "MAYDAY!" Both Canadian and U.S. CG respond. U.S. CG takes it, as boat was apparently on U.S. side of the shipping channel. There's some back-and-forth. Couldn't hear the boater, but, best as I could tell from hearing one side of it: The emergency was: He has anchored and... his boat wouldn't start . Finally, CG asks "Do you have a cell phone aboard?" Then: "Ok, please call this number: ..."

Sorry, guy, but no free tow for you!

Then there was the sailboat we saw, as we were headed back in, that was... ah... well, going in a circle, near as we could tell. As we watched him, passing well over him, I was thinking "What in the blue blazes is he doing?" TBH: Looked like they couldn't figure out quite how the sailing thing worked. Last we saw of them, they'd figured out how to roll up the jib--so they were making progress .

Jim

[sailaway21]

Trying to remember that man standing astride the top of the evolutionary pyramid when is out on the water can sometimes strain one's credulity. (g)

[Boasun]

Evolutionary Pyramid?? There is a Evolutionary Pyramid? Wow!!

[RickQuann]

Originally Posted by SEMIJim

This may seem off-topic for this sub-forum, but it's not, because this is stuff we heard on the radio installed in our sailboat, and while we were out sailing.

Last weekend heard somebody report to the CG a boat sinking off Gull Island. Debris in the water, nobody in the water they could spot. Saw the CG helicopter headed in that general direction a while later. Multiple PAN-PAN's by the CG throughout the remainder of our sail and motor back to our slip.

Never heard another word about it. Nothing on the news. None of our sail club mates heard about it.

Wonder what was up with that?

Today: Some boater near one of the shipping channel buoys calls "MAYDAY!" Both Canadian and U.S. CG respond. U.S. CG takes it, as boat was apparently on U.S. side of the shipping channel. There's some back-and-forth. Couldn't hear the boater, but, best as I could tell from hearing one side of it: The emergency was: He has anchored and... his boat wouldn't start . Finally, CG asks "Do you have a cell phone aboard?" Then: "Ok, please call this number: ..."

Sorry, guy, but no free tow for you!

Then there was the sailboat we saw, as we were headed back in, that was... ah... well, going in a circle, near as we could tell. As we watched him, passing well over him, I was thinking "What in the blue blazes is he doing?" TBH: Looked like they couldn't figure out quite how the sailing thing worked. Last we saw of them, they'd figured out how to roll up the jib--so they were making progress .

Jim

Jim, does post # 21 sound familiar ?

Ignoring that message - Page 3 - SailNet Community

[knothead]

Originally Posted by SEMIJim

This may seem off-topic for this sub-forum, but it's not, because this is stuff we heard on the radio installed in our sailboat, and while we were out sailing.

Jim

Don't worry about it Jim. They're playing the "Ignore this thread" game over in Gear and Maintenance.

[Hawkeye25]

Many years ago, in the days when Loran C was all the rage and depth sounders needed attention through a Gain knob, a friend and I were leaving the Merrimac River mouth in Massachusettes between Plum Island and Salsbury Beach.

It was a beautiful morning, but there had been a stiff onshore breeze for about three days (which promised great sailing along the coast) and the tide was going out. The outlet only has a narrow channel, though it looks wide from the air (it's mostly shallow) and the outrushing tide, coupled with the onshore wind, made for a wild set of ten-footers standing in the exit. We actually took a wall of green water a full six feet above the deck as we pressed through. We laughed -- ha ha -- then groused about our wet clothes and ruined coffee.

Needless to say, the Coast Guard was swamped with desperate calls from the jetty about "SINKING!!!" , "SWAMPED OUTBOARD!!!" and any number of variations indicating the imminent end of the world. No one was hurt, no one sank, no pets were washed overboard, and everyone got out.

One vessel, however, the 'Claire Enid' -a name to raise an eyebrow in any case - had apparently been borrowed by a young couple on their first foray into the blue, or the green, as it were, and they continued to call - the girl, actually, with one desperate malady after another.

My friend and I could see them trying to sail not more than a mile from us, in beautiful sunny weather with a small swell and ten knots of wind. Again and again the young lady hailed the Coast Guard with panic in her voice, and every time the patient Guardsman calmed and reassured her.

Finally, she reached the end of his patience when she screamed, "The depth sounder is reading ZERO!"

"Then you're aground," was his exasperated reply, "please get out and walk home."

The husband snatched the microphone from her (we could only imagine) and we heard no more from the 'Claire Enid'. We could see them clearly, in 20 feet of water, and no one walked home.

[Grotius]

Heh, good story, Hawkeye. I wonder if that couple is still married.

One of the sailing magazines ran a related story a few months ago. Forgive me if I have the details wrong. Anyway, the author was docked (somewhere in the northeast; NY or CT maybe) or anchored near a fancy boat with two people on board -- a guy and a beautiful young woman. They are flirting and whatnot on the deck. The author then sees the man start talking into a radio (I think), and at the same time the author hears a man talking on the radio. He calls his wife at home to say he has to work late. Then he signs off and goes back to partying with his mistress.

[xort]

Originally Posted by SEMIJim

Then there was the sailboat we saw, as we were headed back in, that was... ah... well, going in a circle, near as we could tell. As we watched him, passing well over him, I was thinking "What in the blue blazes is he doing?" TBH: Looked like they couldn't figure out quite how the sailing thing worked. Last we saw of them, they'd figured out how to roll up the jib--so they were making progress .

Jim

Sheeesh, at least you could have waved at us!

[billyruffn]

Two weeks ago in Maine we're motoring along in the fog watching the radar and listening to the Securite calls on the VHF when we hear one side of a conversation with the coast guard. At first. it sounded to us as if the guy was reporting a collision in the fog. After the CG got past telling everyone to put on their life jackets, they asked for details it became apparent that it wasn't just a collision but a "hit and run". The sailboat had been T-boned by a motor vessel (probably an uninsured fisherman) who immediately after the collision, backed down and spun the wheel and gunned the engine and disappeared into the fog.

Now how do you report that one to the insurance company????

[capttb]

I heard Coast Guard San Diego's side of this one when their helo "discouraged" a Mexican Naval Vessel from broading a U.S. flagged boat in international waters.
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