"frivolous or misjudged" SAR Calls

[JomsViking]

A number of specific SAR incidents, and a lot of opinions, facts, and myths have been discussed in various threads.
BUT the number of "frivolous or misjudged" SAR Calls is high, and it seems that many people go to sea without basic sailing skills, like mending a sail or heaving-to. This will (probably already have) cost lives.
It is also interesting to notice that people seems to accept way higher risks in their day-to-day lives, than they do when sailing.
So what can (and should) we do as a community to minimize the number of these calls?

[sailingdog]

Many also go to sea without the common sense God gave ants... If they are not comfortable with their boat in heavy weather, they really shouldn't try making a blue water passage in it until they are. They should also have the basic tools, equipment and skills to deal with basic problems you run into on a bluewater voyaging sailboat—torn sails, broken steering cable, heavy weather, etc.

I wrote the following post for a sailing forum that specializes in smaller cruising boats in reference to the apparent prejudice against small boats cruising.

Unfortunately, the media hasn't helped the situation much... the media, for the most part, seems to think that it is both unsafe and difficult to sail long distances in anything less than 40' LOA. What they seem to forget is that people have been sailing small boats for a long time, and that it is only in the past 20 years that the size of boats has slowly crept upwards.

One thing I've noticed is that as the size of the boats has gone up, the average seamanship has gone down. This may be partially due to a lot of the larger boats being basically floating condos that were bought as status symbols by people with more income than sailing experience and were bought for the lifestyle, rather than to be actually sailed.

If you look at a lot of the newer boats, especially the higher production volume boats, you'll see an emphasis on open interior layouts with huge double berths, high head room, and a fair bit of automation that is IMHO fairly unnecessary if the boat were designed properly. These boats, while very pretty, don't have the stowage, the handholds or decent sea berths to make a serious passage in comfort and safety.

I remember one story Norm and Elizabeth were relating a couple years ago about a passage on a fairly big production sailboat that ended with some injuries due to the open layouts and lack of handholds.

The real problem I see is that the captain and crew are often the weak link. They have not prepared themselves properly to handle a blue water passage. Most boats are far tougher than the mere mortals sailing them. Look at the various disasters in sailing—the 1979 Fastnet, the 1998 Sydney-Hobart, etc—and see how many times the boats came through fairly well, even long after being abandoned by their captain and crew. A couple years ago, a small (about 35') catamaran was abandoned by its designer/owner and his partner down off the coast of Mexico. Six months later, the boat was still floating—and being used as a nesting place for quite a few seabirds.

Yes, a larger boat is safer—but only if you're capable of handling the larger boat safely. If the boat is too big for you to handle, it is more a danger to you than a smaller boat you could handle properly. This is one reason I generally recommend that any boat a couple gets be as large as the weaker of the two can handle by themselves and single-hand in all conditions.

Unfortunately, the US is structured such a way that preventing unprepared sailors from leaving shore is not likely to happen. The EU and other countries have a far better chance of policing their sailors and IMHO generally a far better track record.

[Valiente]

I don't see this as being a problem in other places as much as in the U.S. and Canada (to be fair, here), because there are far fewer qualifications (if any) for basic boat operation here than in Europe or other places.

Whatever libertarian stances one might hold, if one has not been certified as competent by some sort of internationally agreed-upon standard (as are all professional mariners), then there is no objective reason to assume one isn't incompetent. Certainly on the Great Lakes, I see long-time boat owners sailing right up to the level of their competence in relatively mild conditions...at which point they start to break things, hurt themselves, endanger crew or endanger others on other boats. Basic stuff like watchkeeping, knowing where you are, reading charts, sail handling...it's enough just to take your PCOC card (in Canada, an extremely basic test of nav aids, "will it burn?" knowledge and dinghy parking), buy insurance and you can go squall-hunting.

I am not sure why we require increasingly elaborate and complex testing for running mopeds to cars to 53 foot long truck "rigs", but very little to nothing to run a 20 tonne, 53 foot yacht.

[bubb2]

Some interesting facts here. Be sure to see the reimbursement charges!

USCG Office of Search & Rescue (CG-534)

[nolatom]

Generally, I believe what my Dad told me long ago:

"The boat's tougher than you are"...

Many of these Mayday calls are for beat-up, sick, exhausted sailors on an essentially seaworthy boat.

So what to do? I don't favor more regulation, but my heart is with the Coast Guard (or Navy, or National Guard, or State agencies, whoever) people who have to go out to try and save these souls.

One thought: more public education about what the "non-Mayday" radio calls mean. Often, these calls aren't a true Mayday situation, but someone who wants to have a link with a shore station in case the situation deteriorates. Securite or Pan-Pan can work, and help a skipper maintain a radio link and check-in schedule with a Rescue Coordination Center.

Beyond that, it's simply, "please be cautious and don't get in over your head". Very good advice, but it didn't work with many of our investment banks, and it doesn't always work with sailors either. I just don't want to see the rescuers' lives risked unnecessarily.

[kaluvic]

Originally Posted by nolatom

Very good advice, but it didn't work with many of our investment banks, and it doesn't always work with sailors either.

Different motivation....

[sailingdog]

This document in particular is of interest... as it has the hourly costs of operation charged for various personnel and vessels.

Originally Posted by bubb2

Some interesting facts here. Be sure to see the reimbursement charges!

USCG Office of Search & Rescue (CG-534)

[JomsViking]

So do you guys think that better information about the (potential) penalties for a misjudged SAR Call would lower the number?
Is it possible to create awareness about this without requiring some formal training (licensing)?

For the record, no licensing is required in DK as long as the vessel is less than 15 meters LOA, except for what we call speedboats. Licensing does not seem to have improved the skill-level of those motor-boaters, though.

[vega1860]

Originally Posted by JomsViking

So do you guys think that better information about the (potential) penalties for a misjudged SAR Call would lower the number?
Is it possible to create awareness about this without requiring some formal training (licensing)?

For the record, no licensing is required in DK as long as the vessel is less than 15 meters LOA, except for what we call speedboats. Licensing does not seem to have improved the skill-level of those motor-boaters, though.

Considering the (Lack of) effect that licensing for automobile operators has had on highway safety in the US. I think it would be no more than yet another exercise in government intrusion and tax collection for non-commercial boat operators.

The problem is the state of our modern society. People no longer believe they are responsible for their actions and are not willing to accept the consequences of bad judgment. Also, we have largely become a society of wimps who live lives insulated from the natural environment and cannot tolerate even the slightest bit of discomfort. Add a government agency that will come and get you if you get in over your head and a media that will report your self created dilemma as if it were a natural disaster and we have a situation that cries for government intervention.


Soon enough the (US) government, that seems to be growing like the Blob in the old Steve McQueen movie, will reach out and smother us in the name of boating safety.

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[sailingdog]

No, not really. Stupidity is not curable or, in many cases, preventable. Licensing, at least in this country, is no panacea either. People would still go out drunk, ill-prepared, ill-equipped, and ignorant. Any one of the four is a problem...when you have two or more combined, it tends to get lethal fairly quickly.

Originally Posted by JomsViking

So do you guys think that better information about the (potential) penalties for a misjudged SAR Call would lower the number?
Is it possible to create awareness about this without requiring some formal training (licensing)?

For the record, no licensing is required in DK as long as the vessel is less than 15 meters LOA, except for what we call speedboats. Licensing does not seem to have improved the skill-level of those motor-boaters, though.