Break Down At Sea.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Polwart

I love it when people measure approachability from the inside!

Originally Posted by soley1

?

Try telling him that his Moderating Style is a little robust soley1, or his explanatory scenarios a touch convoluted, and you'll see what he means....

He's more "Approachative", i.e. when you're having a naughty wee chat in some dark corner of RIBnet, the moderating Duster you hear approaching will be his.



PS, My Coasties are cool

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by biffer

i've got an award from Ribnet for sound advice, so here goes, DON'T BREAK DOWN.

Easily planned as you say, but the reality is, sh!t happens.

While modern engines, hulls, tubes, etc. are generally very reliable, and nearly foolproof with a bit of maintenance, it's the nearly part that gets you. Doesn't take much of a failure to disable a boat at sea, and one little pin or nut or hose or electronic component is all it takes.

One thing I haven't heard is an "All vessels" radio call. Should reach any boat monitoring channel 16 within your ship-to-ship broadcast range, and will often get a nearby boat to come to assist. It's fairly common in the US among people who know radio protocol; may not be in the Eastern Atlantic.

As a caveat, in the US, we have no requirement to have a VHF course to use a radio; being on a recreational boat is a de facto license. The result is a lot of people who can communicate, with no idea how to.

As to the problem at hand, the big thing is to let *someone* know you're having problems; otherwise you're just a boater out enjoying the water.


jky

[Poly]

Originally Posted by willk

Try telling him that his Moderating Style is a little robust soley1, or his explanatory scenarios a touch convoluted, and you'll see what he means....

He's more "Approachative", i.e. when you're having a naughty wee chat in some dark corner of RIBnet, the moderating Duster you hear approaching will be his.

and yet 99.9% of people have never been moderated on here


Soley what I meant was, as others have elaborated that the best people to judge is someone is approachable to the public are almost certainly not those people and their close colleagues. Likewise asking the people who have approached you is not a good measure either - its the people who didn't who you should be interested in. Its the sort behaviour I expect from government departments!

Now I know that most coasties are super friendly helpful people who go out of their way to help all small boat owners and would never look on a boaty in trouble with distain; but I can certainly see why the public perception might be of ex. forces/merchant seamen dressing up in funny uniforms and running round pretending to be the police of the sea.

[RRIBS]

Thanks for your replies re salvage/receiving and giving assistance. Very much appreciated. David Mc

[soley1]

"ex. forces/merchant seamen dressing up in funny uniforms and running round pretending to be the police of the sea"
__________________
a few years ago maybe,in our team of 11 we have 1 paramedic,2 contract cleaners,2 IT consultants,etc,etc,no one from the forces and if im honest getting details of boat breakdowns is a pain,why the rnli cant do it and pass it on to the mrcc is beyond me.

were not the police of the sea,thats the rnli job
were responsible for the area from the low water to the high water mark including cliffs

i agree what your saying,but as our yearly budget from the dept of transport is the equivelant of 0.8 of a mile of motorway,and our pr budget stopped due to goverment cuts its no wonder that the public see us as the see police and not approachable

[SPR]

Originally Posted by soley1

were not the police of the sea,thats the rnli job
were responsible for the area from the low water to the high water mark including cliffs

Erm nope RNLI are not the police either they are charity that help to save lives and to advise in sea safety matters...

[squiddy]

The police are the police of the sea. Or if your lucky/unlucky the RN!

[Anchorhandler]

I can certainly see why the public perception might be of ex. forces/merchant seamen dressing up in funny uniforms and running round pretending to be the police of the sea.

Very few Merchant Navy people head into the CG....the 'Maritime' side of the MCA yes but not the CG side...

I do look quite tasty in a nurses uniform though

Simon

[martini]

I'm foreign so could well be wrong but are we confusing HM Coastguard who coordinate SAR with the volunteer Coastguard Rescue Service who respond to land based rescues?

[Poly]

Originally Posted by martini

I'm foreign so could well be wrong but are we confusing HM Coastguard who coordinate SAR with the volunteer Coastguard Rescue Service who respond to land based rescues?

I think so, the original point was about the guys in the glorified call centres (). I've no real experience of the guys in the boilersuits - except what I've seen on the telly (that doesn't necessarily paint them in a great light - but it doesn't make them seem too unapproachable either).

And I know you are not the "police" its just that uniforms, blue lights (even i'm mixing them up now), and a certain degree of bossing people around and taking down details leaves a certain air of that, or at least shopping centre security guard

[willk]

Originally Posted by Polwart

and yet 99.9% of people have never been moderated on here

Exactly 99.9% or are you generalising again?

Originally Posted by Polwart

its just that uniforms.... and a certain degree of bossing people around and taking down details leaves a certain air of that, or at least shopping centre security guard

or a Internet Forum Moderator

[chewy]

The RNLI will usually insist you use their rope and will contact you on CH16 and ask you if you accept full responsibilty for the tow.

[martini]

Originally Posted by Polwart

uniforms, blue lights...

...Are always going to attract a certain type of volunteer but if they didn't do it then there wouldn't be a service.

Over here we have 12 different volunteer police forces (one for each parish) as well as the "proper" police force. Unbelievably the head honcho of each volunteer force has more powers than the paid officers

Not bad for an island 9x5 miles

[soley1]

Originally Posted by martini

I'm foreign so could well be wrong but are we confusing HM Coastguard who coordinate SAR with the volunteer Coastguard Rescue Service who respond to land based rescues?

the mca coordinate rescues,and they task hm coastguard rescue teams and can call on any number of search and rescue assets

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by 9D280

The other thing with an aux - make sure it runs once in a while!

If you are launching from a marina you can use it to get from slip / berth to the entrance, or if you stop for a picnic lunch somewhere can run it for 20 mins as you eat your sarnies to hold position. Either way, it is better to find out that it's got the huff in a scenario like that than when you really need it after it sitting doing nothing on your transom for a year!

Speaking from experience, I couldn't agree more.

I have had failures on the aux engines on both my last boat and the current one, both due to fuel contamination. I have no idea how it got in there - always filled with clean fuel and breather always kept closed, but it did. I found out about it in both cases on a test run on a nice day when I decided I would bimble along with some dolphins for a while on the aux and then found it wouldn't run properly. In the case of the Merc Sailmate, it was almost brand new when it happened.

I think with an aux, pulling out the fuel tank and flushing it out properly is probably a good idea once in a while. I try and run mine at least every second or third trip for at least 10 minutes.