MRCC Solent visit this saturday - any questions

[boristhebold]

Visiting the Solent MRCC on saturday, there will be an oppourtunity to ask questions, my questions I have are below : are there any you may like me to ask on your behalf.

And dont have a go at me if some of these questions I have are dumb !

• Radio Checks – which is preferred channel 16 or 67 or other
• If in Poole area is it Solent coastguard or Portland coastguard
• Should we report incidents we sort out ourselves – actual examples - towing back to marina a demasted sailing boat or picking up two swamped kayakers and taking back to beach
• Mayday messages and location details improvements – when listening to mayday announcements on VHF rather often the location is only given as degrees north and west etc and it is very difficult for us to determine quickly where about the incident is occurring as we don’t have pen and paper handy, if there was more use of general location as in so many miles and bearing from x or Y we might be able to assist depending upon what the incident is and weather conditions even if that assistance is just being on location as a safety measure and reassurance waiting for RNLI to arrive. If general location and a description of issue could be repeated a few times over a period of time that may help. Example if a diver has been lost in an area we are in we could help with a search.

[jokaboat]

All routine traffic such as radio checks , passage plans etc should be on 67.

Good question on the which station to call although I think they monitor both so Portland hear Solent and vice versa.

Only if you feel that if the situation might get worse and you may need help.

Good luck in changing the SOS message!

It's an interesting visit, they are full of amusing tales to tell and it's really good to see them in operation. We got a free beer from them as well !