Are Security calls the newest puffery?

[Bob 04 H260]

Bob, you may be confusing the VHF station license which is not required to the Cetificate which IS required.

From the Cdn Power Squadron, which offers the VHF course...

The ROC(M) is a Canadian Federal government issued certificate that allows you to operate a marine VHF radio. ​

The ROC(M) is required by anyone using a marine VHF radio or other marine radios (each person on the boat who will use the radio needs their own card). There are significant fines if you are found using a VHF or marine radio without your card.​

you are right Scott ! thanks for correcting that, Bob

 

[JVB]

Those securite' calls sound a bit like the self announcing system employed at most uncontrolled airports. A pilot is supposed to announce himself like 'Cessna 1234 departing runway 27 turning North West." or "Piper 5678 entering left downwind for runway 27." Other pilots listening can get a rough mental picture of the local traffic. It makes sense for small aircraft because they are hard to spot in 3 dimensions and typically travel 2 or 3 miles per minute. For easily maneuvered boats, i.e. all pleasure boats not handicapped in some serious way, such announcements in the blind are equivalent to saying 'I am an incompetent or reckless operator.'

 

[David in Sandusky]

The only Securite I have heard (and issued) for a sailing yacht is to warn others when entering the Little Detroit passage in the North Channel of Lake Huron.

This is a tight fit for two boats if the actually passed in the channel. Well, not a really tight fit, but tight enough to make folks uncomfortable.

 

[Ross]

I only very rarely turn my VHF transceiver on because if I can't see the vessel in distress it is unlikely that I can be of any assistance.

 

[Roger Long]

I only very rarely turn my VHF transceiver on..

You are required to have it on and monitor 16 if you elect to carry the radio on board. If a powerboat "T" boned you and it could be established that the radio was off, it could also shift a bit of blame to you. The other vessel could say that they were trying to contact you to determine your intentions and you were off the air.

The only time I turned off my radio while I've had my current boat, I was way up the Penobscot River and hadn't seen a boat in hours. I figured there was nobody up there and I could stop listening to the constant patter of Sea Tow calls and radio checks and enjoy listening to the birds. A few minutes later, a USCG boat came around the bend. I turned the radio on and they told me a 300 foot barge was coming down the river! I squeezed over to the bank and, sure enough, a huge barge with a prefabricated refinery piping assembly that had been build on the river bank came down taking up almost the entire channel came around the bend.

 

[Scott B]

Those securite' calls sound a bit like the self announcing system employed at most uncontrolled airports. A pilot is supposed to announce himself like 'Cessna 1234 departing runway 27 turning North West." or "Piper 5678 entering left downwind for runway 27." Other pilots listening can get a rough mental picture of the local traffic. It makes sense for small aircraft because they are hard to spot in 3 dimensions and typically travel 2 or 3 miles per minute. For easily maneuvered boats, i.e. all pleasure boats not handicapped in some serious way, such announcements in the blind are equivalent to saying 'I am an incompetent or reckless operator.'

If you're refering to the OP, you're correct, no need and a waste of air space.

If you're refering to the secuite' calls in my area, sorry you're incorrect. There are many areas in the chanel that you cannot see clearly or at all from one entrance to the other. Typically just the other side of the chanel markers are rock just below the surface. It doea not leave you any room to pass another large boat nor even back up safely.

This section although is mud, is barely wide enough for one boat and you enter from a blind turn.

 

[Bill Roosa]

Other uses

Hazards to navigation like large trees, those pesky sea-land containers floating just on the surface, small boats without VHF that are adrift and need help.... the list is pretty much endless.

 

[David W]

Securite calls

We sail in the Canadian Gulf Islands and there are a number of passes that are sufficiently narrow that a Securite call to warn of traffic "Securite... 34 ft sail vessel approaching Dodd Narrows southbound" is a safety measure because the current runs +7kts at max and two boats meeting in the pass would be chaos.

This summer a large powerboat did not announce his passage and we had to do a 180 turn just before entering because he was coming through @ max power against the current.... not good for the nerves!

BC Ferries also does a Securite call before passing through Active Pass.