Ribbing in a Flotilla

[AJ.]

Originally Posted by PeterM

He won't see. .he'll be texting...

[lakelandterrier]

At what point does a flotilla become a fleet???

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by lakelandterrier

At what point does a flotilla become a fleet???

When spell check or predictive text can't recognise it?

[whisper]

Is it the same thing?

A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small flota (fleet) of ships

[C2 RIBS]

Originally Posted by willk

I have a particular dislike of other craft running close behind a boat I'm helming, i.e. in my inner wake calm vee. If I have an MOB, they'll almost certainly nail them..

Agree dont follow behind anyone at speed

[mister p]

Originally Posted by willk

That's not quite what I meant. It's not great, but it's not as risky. I mean drivers who park themselves directly behind another boat on a bumpy day, to avail of the calmer water in the wake. So there they are - following a boat that's having it bumpy, they're about three seconds behind it, someone falls off the lead boat, the following craft tries to steer away....

It's a complete no-no on dusk and night passages

You'll probably discover that the "three seconds" is more like half a second in reality.

[lakelandterrier]

Originally Posted by PeterM

When spell check or predictive text can't recognise it?

Ouch!
And I was going to let you helm Aquahound on Sunday!

Prdctve txt shld b outlwd in ny cse.

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by lakelandterrier

Ouch!
And I was going to let you helm Aquahound on Sunday!

Prdctve txt shld b outlwd in ny cse.

Even better with swype on a Samsung phone. I'd be banned in minutes. (Got your pm.. Will be in touch)

[lakelandterrier]

Originally Posted by whisper

Is it the same thing?

A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small flota (fleet) of ships

My point, when does a small fleet become a proper full sized fleet?

[whisper]

Hummm......


Fleet:

Fleet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Flotilla:

Flotilla - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[lakelandterrier]

No clearer!

[whisper]

Originally Posted by lakelandterrier

No clearer!

Me neither

[gooner-paul]

Thanks for the info, most seems to common sense to me! But useful non the less

The round isle of wight is my first real run in my rib only got it in feb and then did PBS lvl2 straight after!

Did day skipper theory evening classes around the same time!

Needless to say I'm looking forward to it but also apprehensive as so far my longest trip was to the folly and back from lymington!

I was hoping a more experienced friend was going to come along with me but it now looks like he won't make it!

I've done myself a route on the chart plotter, got paper charts haven't marked them up though, hand compass, back up hand held GPS unit, spare kill cord, small aux outboard, life jackets and hand held VHF

I'm just hoping its not too rough as I've not done much rough water ribbing, most of the times I've been out its been pretty flat

I guess it's like all things confidence goes hand in hand with experience

[lakelandterrier]

Well, it's just making constant assessment of conditions & your confidence.
This will be
the longest cruise we've made, but if it gets to lumpy for me - or my crew , I'm quite prepared to cut short.

My critical decision point will be near St Catherine's Point, as there is a long open stretch to the Needles - if it's getting uncomfortabll we'll head back round the eaSt of the Island.

[brucehawsker]

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...." there was a rib trip organised by another organisation. In the event, inclement waether, only three ribs turned up. Two were 8m+ and we were 6.5m. We RV'ed a couple of times en route as planned. Then it became tough and we lost visual on the other two boats. For about 15 minutes, we were kind of busy surviving and did not call them on the radio (it was too windy to hear anything underway and waves were enough to discourage us from stopping!) and then we screwed up on a monster wave and filled the boat, submersed the engine, lost our radio antenna and screwed up our GPS. We did not see the other two boats until we limped into harbour 90 minutes later, by which time we had had to call coastguard on a mobile. They had hunted for us once they realsied we were missing but never even saw us. Coastguard saw us from the cliff top and guided us in.

It was my fault - I should have cried for help - although the other (far more experienced) helms were both criticised (I am unsure fairly) afterwards. It was asserted they should have acted to keep us in sight and called coastgaurd the moment they lost visual.

OK this was October and F6 gusting far worse. We had all the kit (except a backup handheld VHF, bought the next morning and used as backup ever since....), had done the training, and we were unhurt and learned loads. But it was very close to becoming a major helipcopter / lifeboat shout costing thousands and we could have been killed.....

Moral - BUDDY. Have three or four boats who share responsibility for keeping track of each other. I have had a scare off St Catherine's in a bit of an ugly swell in grey conditions with three other boats when I lost sight lost of the (grey tubed) one and could not raise them on the radio. The three boats were in contact on 77 and we immediatlely established we could see each other but not the grey one. So we CRAWLED backwards along the trail on my plotter and saw the boat stalled with complete electrical failure about 3minutes later. I was very close to calling Mayday.

Now this may not be needed on Sunday, but someone needs to decide when and if it becomes necessary and ensure everyone is forthwith buddied. Or people are very firmly told it is their responisibility exclusively to arrange buddying. On the South of the Island, given the changable weather we have had in past few days, I would buddy and i have been round the island a dozen plus times.....

Why take the risk?

[John Kennett]

Originally Posted by brucehawsker

Or people are very firmly told it is their responisibility exclusively to arrange buddying.

That's the way it needs to work. This is not an organised cruise, it's a collection of like-minded but individually responsible skippers and crews.

[EnglishLes]

Originally Posted by whisper

Hummm......


Fleet:

Fleet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Flotilla:

Flotilla - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From these WIKI definitions I get "naval flotilla, is a formation of SMALL warships that may be part of a larger fleet" (my capitals) and "A fleet, or naval fleet, is a large formation of warships", so my interpretation is not how many boats there are but how big the boats are. I would suggest that for RIBs a Fleet would need to include some larger boats (10m+ maybe but this is open to discussion) and a Flotilla would be a subset of this Fleet where all the boats are under 10m.

If Ribnet users can get some form of agreement on what a RIB Fleet and a RIB Flotilla are then we can put them in WIKI.

[willk]

RIB Fleet - a group of RIBs that don't hang about
RIB Flotilla - a group of RIBs that float around slipways and bays, wondering what happens next...

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by willk

RIB Fleet - a group of RIBs that don't hang about
RIB Flotilla - a group of RIBs that float around slipways and bays, wondering what happens next...

I want to be in a fleet. ... Not a flotilla.

[willk]

Originally Posted by PeterM

I want to be in a fleet. ... Not a flotilla.

...no txtng then.


From what I hear, you're more likely to be in a Possé