Calling the Coast Guard

Don S/V ILLusion · Jun 15, 2011

In a former life, I was in the CG and will never forget one of the dumbest calls we received for help because of a dead engine (power boater...). when asked for a location, they said they "don't know where we are". The radio op responded after summoning some restraint telling them to "stay where you are".

The universe of boaters are comprised of a large subset of the "more money than brains" club.

LuzSD · Jun 15, 2011

Interesting that you mention this. Last Sunday we were out in SD bay and there was an open mike for at least an hour, we heard a minimum of 10 requests for radio checks on channel 16 and for some weird reason there was so much light, chatty, "hey, where are you, we're just pulling in... save a spot for us....." kind of conversations going on ALL on channel 16. It was pitiful really. I know you are asking for calling in the case of emergency but this seems to fit your frustation mode. And no, we've never had to call for help of any kind......even when our engine had such trouble, we decided we could get back to our slip by sailing in without doing anyone any harm. Fingers crossed it stays that way and yes, we prepare to a great extent before any race or cruise off shore.

rpwillia · Jun 15, 2011

Baltimore USCG

USCG Sector Baltimore is pretty good about telling people to keep the channel clear. Have heard the open mike thing once, have no idea how you could do that.

I know the USCG has to follow a script, but sometimes it is rather frustrating to hear them go through that. They also seem to get these people to use their cell phones a lot more now and finish up what they need if it not an acute emergency.

I imagine it is tough on the USCG to have to deal with a lot of this as people don't really seem to know how to use their boats and radios. And don't even get me going on DSC's, MMSI's and integrated GPS. If people would learn to set them up and use them a lot of this would go away.

kloudie1 · Jun 15, 2011

Good to hear that you are back, Nice & Easy.. The rebuilt rudder and the engine performed well??

Joe · Jun 15, 2011

Last week, I was out on the water.. mid afternoon... a call to the CG comes from a sailboat with a fouled prop. (there are normally lots of kelp paddys in that area) The caller was concerned because he was in the san diego bay main channel... I was curious so I followed the conversation to channel 82. The coast guard calmly assessed the situation and asked the skipper if the sails were up... " yes, but we're dead on the wind".....( SAY WHAT? did you ever hear of tacking) The operator asked "do you have injuries, is the vessel in any danger?" etc. "no" the skipper said... we just wanted to advise you that we were in the channel"......

Coast Guard politely suggests he call Vessel Assist.. "oh, yeah, I have an account with them, will you call them for me?" So... vessel assist comes on the channel and tells them to stay put, drop the anchor if they have to..... silence for a few moments.. then vessel assist asks them to acknowledge... quiet.. again they ask for acknowledgement... Finally the skipper comes on and says, "Never mind, we got the prop unfouled!" Never said thanks, ... nothing.

Additional info. this guy had 6 passengers on his 25 foot Mac.. does that sound familiar in SD bay.

I'd ask him: "why can't you just sail? The San Diego Bay channel is huge, plenty or room for a small sailboat. What did you want the Coast Guard to do? It is an outboard... can't you simply kick up the motor to clear the prop.

Ridiculous.

LuzSD · Jun 15, 2011

rpwillia said:
USCG Sector Baltimore is pretty good about telling people to keep the channel clear. Have heard the open mike thing once, have no idea how you could do that.

Sector SD did deal with all of these issues but you could hear it in their voices they were frustrated. Finally, regarding the open mike with kids playing the gal spoke directly to the child and told them they were in the process of confirming their location as she spoke. The playing did not continue as far as I heard after that!

kenn · Jun 15, 2011

Around the Great Lakes I find that the traffic on ch 16 is generally appropriate, and the Canadian CG, USCG and other police marine units respond promptly and don't put up with nonsense.

Joe said:
Last week, I was out on the water.. mid afternoon... a call to the CG comes from a sailboat with a fouled prop. (there are normally lots of kelp paddys in that area) The caller was concerned because he was in the san diego bay main channel
...
I'd ask him: "why can't you just sail? The San Diego Bay channel is huge, plenty of room for a small sailboat. What did you want the Coast Guard to do? It is an outboard... can't you simply kick up the motor to clear the prop.

Ridiculous.

In fairness, if the person was totally green, and thought that they might end up some ship's way, then just giving the USCG a heads-up might seem reasonable to do. The rest... embarrassing.

In Canada it's now mandatory to possess a Pleasure Craft Operator Card (PCOC) which, if nothing else, means that the holder had to listen to and memorize at least a few hours worth of boating safety info. Which will give a few more people a clue, I hope.

Scott B · Jun 16, 2011

kenn, you should come up to my area, someplaces are the 401 of boating. ( the 401 is our busiest highway in Toronto for those from elsewhere )

Constant chatter, most switch over after hailing their "buddy" and calls to CG are typically warranted. We're also supposed to have the Restricted Operator Certificate for the VHF. You can sure tell those that don't as the CG slowly extracts the info from the caller.

Bill Roosa · Jun 16, 2011

I have never had to call the CG except to report large logs and hazards to navigation.
The dumbest thing I ever heard reported was a power boater who said he had one of his engine fail and could not maneuver. After the mandatory, are you on fire, taking on water....... drill it was determined that he still had one good working engine but the boat kept "veering to the right" and he had to hold the wheel over "pretty far" to get it to go straight. The chatter on 16 after that was pretty embarrassing for the guy. The standard "16 is fro hailing and REAL emergencies, not "the ice is melting in my soda" stuff.

Merlin Clark · Jun 16, 2011

Nice N Easy said:
I just got back from a nice sail across the gulf, from New Orleans, over to Clearwater and St. Pete and back. I continue to be amazed by the number of calls to the Coast Guard for help. Not a day goes bye when at least one is heard, usually more. Everything from overdue, to man overboard, to taking on water. And of course there are then the really stupid ones. Are we becoming a bunch of idiots who think preperation isn't necessary, cause we can just call the coasties. Have you ever had to call for help, and under what circumstances. I can honestly say I have never hollered help, except last summer to Sea Tow, to get off a hard grounding, but never the coasties.

I think it's too much reliance on GETTING bailed out of every situation by things like AAA. People that have had to walk a few miles with a gas can or push a car in the hot summer sun remember to check the guage when they start up the car.
Now, boaters that would never have previously gone beyond the sight of land can get the new electronic baby sitter, SPOT, and go unprepared into the great unknown.

thinwater · Jun 16, 2011

I have contacted the the CG on a number of occations regarding things I felt were not urgent--markers off station, a floating container--but a cell phone to the local number seemed better and less disruptive. Every boat should have a list of the local station numbers on-board.

I once contacted the CG because of a medical emergency in bad weather (diabetic insulin pump failure). It wasn't an immediate danger, but I was forced to consider a sand bar riddled entrance in on-shore conditions that I wouldn't normally have considered, and because of the resent passage of a huricane, some of the markers were off station. I called via. cell phone and they were able to give entrance conditions and the correct locations for the markers that were moved (tricky, because these markers are frequently moved and not charted). Additionally, since not all of the markers were lit, I wanted to talk to them about the lights (which one are lit and what period) and the possibility of getting a guide if we arived after dark (the channel is miles long). It would have been a long radio call.

Not to say 16 doesn't have a place. Just not all the tripe I hear. My favorites are nameless inquires after where the fish are biting.

kenn · Jun 16, 2011

Scott B said:
kenn, you should come up to my area, someplaces are the 401 of boating. ( the 401 is our busiest highway in Toronto for those from elsewhere )

No foolin'. We had our 2009 Sandpiper Rendezvous in Midland (Bayport) & Beausoleil Is., mid-August, on what seemed the only sunny weekend of the summer... and yeah the water was crazy busy with boat traffic.

It seems that big stinkboat owners are particularly fond of cruising at the exact speed that generates the largest possible wake, but isn't up on a plane... (can't imagine how fast they're burning gas at this speed

). So our little boats were constantly bobbing around in that mess.

'401' was exactly the term that sprung to mind.

LuzSD · Jun 16, 2011

how a boat name might sound in an emergency

last weekend we heard a call to Vessel Assist, it was instigated by a boat called Skiff Faced. The call to VA got our immediate attention ,but the response from VA was much more fun. Our local VA guy has a very serious tone so to hear him respond over 16 with what sounded like "Sh*tfaced, what is your emergency". all that with no snicker detected!

FourPoints · Jun 16, 2011

I have contacted coast guard on 2 occasions, first to report 50'+ motor yacht that was driving straight at all the sailboats in the area, and passing less than 50' from the boat and screaming at the boats as they passed by things like "get a real boat", seconds before their 8'+ wake tried to catapult you off the deck. CG did nothing :-(

Other time was late last summer to report a buoy that was more than a mile from its charted position... They had me call on my cell for that one, they took the information, but as of memorial weekend this year, the buoy was still about 1.25 Nm from its charted position...

caguy · Jun 16, 2011

Sounds like On-Star has missed the boat (pun intended).

RECESS · Jun 16, 2011

Pom Pom Pom This is Mobile Alabama......

Either Mobile has the worst boaters or a massive amount of traffic. They live on channel 16. I catch three or four major ports in my area but Mobile seems to be aout 80% of the action on my radio.

shemandr · Jun 16, 2011

LI Coast Guard gets on pretty fast if there's chatter on channel 16. I appreciate that about them.
I wouldn't want the job CG has of communicating with the public re emergencies or situations. I usually monitor 16 and hear all kinds of stuff. It's a really hard job to find out the basics - what, where, who.

RAD · Jun 16, 2011

Nautical Nitwits :cussing:

inarathree · Jun 16, 2011

It is interesting, I sometimes turn the VHF up to 25W, and get sector Mobile, from the Tampa area, and I will have to say there is definitely more action in Mobile than Tampa.

But sector Mobile is better about the hourly Pan-Pan check ins. Usually two or three minutes ahead of sector St Pete