T200 Marshalls

[Paul F]

Yep we to had a brill couple of days looking after the gold box.
And yes we to bailed out of the fireworks as well.
Agree with comments, but dont matter what job/task you do, you will always come across mr/mrs Attitude and we had a couple of them.
Paul

[donutsina911]

sorry Russell - I wasnt refering to you, we were in exactly the same position as you were, whilst under way we were normally doing our best to avoid sunseekers and wayward yachts whilst also trying to keep some degree of stability for passengers and keep within the speed restrictions - on a couple of occassions we had the same approach from a marshall as you (sounds like the same boat I think!)

[DJL]

Bruce I agree essentially with what you are saying however, as far as I’m aware there was no mention of a 5kt speed limit in either the Trafalgar safety info PDF or on QHM website - "fast planing craft are to keep their movement down to the minimum speed necessary". I was maintaining 9kts in order for water to exit via the elephant trunks and to navigate the wake effectively.

As for the near collision incident, in my opinion the marshal boats actions were totally inappropriate, so much so that if I actually had any useful information about the boat I would have reported to the CG. If was far from a gentle persuasion to change course.

I really didn't mean to be so negative about the marshalling - on a whole is all seemed to work very well, and most people seemed to obey the rules.


Ch11 - Spithead Control and QHM.

[Paul F]

There wasnt a figure set on speed, it was safe speed minimum wash.
As for near miss, that should have been left for the next level of patrols.
They were quick enough to swoop on us when i got to close to Endurance whilst helping to lead to sail past, i thought they were even going to come on top of us.

[jackeen]

Originally Posted by brucehawsker

and sometimes pursuit and interception and delivery of a bollicking was the only answer - and it was not without risk.

I have no doubt that the vast majority of situations where handled fairy. But you can get problems when appearant power is given to some wannabe's who have very little experience, little or no common sense, people handling skills etc etc, oviously this couldnt apply to anyone here

Some bottle necks especially ryde was difficult.

One guy we where talking to in Cowes had an incident where 3 large cruisers where coming from the west he from the east along ryde. another cruiser overtakes the other 3 cruisers to their port heading straight at him he now has a senario of what

get hit from the front

moves to port across 3 other cruisers get hit

stop and get hit from front and back

so what should he have done ???.

[Richard B]

Originally Posted by jackeen

oviously this couldnt apply to anyone here

Don't beat about the bush... who are you pointing the finger at?

[tcwozere]

Quite possibly at anyone of the Navy marshalls who had no idea of what the ordinary boating public had been told..

Just out of interest..

Originally Posted by Richard B

Attending incidents like this would have diverted us from dealing with our primary responsibilities which were the security of the Naval Fleet and the logistics of organising the spectators. This isn't just my personal opinion, it was our instruction.

I thought the only role of the Marshalls was to stop people crossing the imaginary line.. And if they did, and refused to move, you could call up some people with real power.. If I am wrong, and you were protecting the Naval Fleet and Liz from some form of terrorist attack, hats off to all the Marshalls..

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Richard B

Don't beat about the bush... who are you pointing the finger at?

Probably the RN nobber in a 5.4m sea rider in the enterance to Pompey harbour. Still now he is safely back on board his ship peeling spuds for a living the Solent will be a safer place without his interference.

Thankfully the Ribnet marshalls we saw were doing a fab job, including you Richard.

Pete

[Mark Halliday]

Originally Posted by DJL

I had a good day yesterday. Fireworks were brilliant - quite a sight all those anchor lights too.

RussellH I think I met the same marshall boat, got told off for doing 9kts in an effort to stay on top of (rather than in) the rather large wake from the binliners travelling at 5kts.

Also saw a marshal boat put themselves very dangerously in front of a RIB travelling at speed in an attempt to stop them - could have ended badly.

Hi Daniel
Thats us in the photo. Was it us you were refering to?
As far as I remember, we did not have to approach any RIBs. but we did ask some to slow down.
There were several occasions when we asked people to slow from an already reasonable speed. This was usualy because there was a blockage further up which you may not have been able to see. It was imperative that we slowed people to stop them going round the blockage and into the Restricted Zone.

We had a couple of plastic fantastics who kept saying "I am at tick over, I cant go any slower."
Our response was "There are much faster boats than yours which can."

I am sorry if we did something which seemed unreasonable, but there was method in our madness.

[tim griffin]

It's a good job they never gave them guns , for their role of protecting the fleet and Betty and Phivos i imagine a few of us would have been shot.



Still on a more serious note it seemed to have went extremely well the organizational skills of the Navy were superb. All charter boats had a great time they did meet one or two over zealous VOLUNTEER MARSHALLS but on the whole no problems . And a big thumbs up to all the volunteers and professional teams out there who made it a great couple of day's.

[Louise]

Originally Posted by tcwozere

I thought the only role of the Marshalls was to stop people crossing the imaginary line.. And if they did, and refused to move, you could call up some people with real power..

As explained here the marshals formed an "outer security ring for the review fleet". Often there was not time to go through the procedure of approaching, stopping them, asking them to move and then calling for assistance. We are talking about fast moving boats here! And often the marshal RIBs were quicker than the nearest Second Tier boat! Our instructions were clear and we followed them. Hope that helps!

[Mark Halliday]

Originally Posted by tcwozere

If I am wrong, and you were protecting the Naval Fleet and Liz from some form of terrorist attack, hats off to all the Marshalls..

Yep Tony, you are wrong. The Police, Navy and Marines were only there for show. They only had side arms and automatic rifles, us marshals were armed with constantly full bladders.
I fully expect all of us to recieve at least a Knighthood in the New Years Honours List for services to the Queen.

[Louise]

Originally Posted by tcwozere

If I am wrong, and you were protecting the Naval Fleet and Liz from some form of terrorist attack, hats off to all the Marshalls..

Actually, without wishing to sound over-dramatic, in a way we were! At our briefing we were reminded about the USS Cole incident. Any of the boats we intercepted could have had suicide bombers on board! Would they think twice about shooting anyone who gets in their way?

I don't think we'll volunteer to marshal the next Fleet Review in 2032 or whenever!!!

[tcwozere]

Arise Sir Mark, it definitely has a ring to it..

Originally Posted by Pete7

Probably the RN nobber in a 5.4m sea rider in the enterance to Pompey harbour. Still now he is safely back on board his ship peeling spuds for a living the Solent will be a safer place without his interference.

It was funny going through the harbour entrance watching him go back and forth as he tried to catch the ones going the fastest.. It was like putting a cat in a room with loads of meece, by the time the cat makes up its mind which one to go for, they have all legged it..

[tim griffin]

Thats very clever of the Navy get the VOLUNTEER MARSHALLS to sacrifice them selves in the outer security perimeter in the face of terrorists. And then concentrate the Marines and Police into that area to sort it out . Well done again to the Volunteers for putting your life on the line for Queen and Country.

[Louise]

Only doin' our job, sir/ma'am! (spoken in a cheesy American accent!)

[RIVA]

i had a great time kept myself to myself

no one tried to race me thank god

lets face it , for those people who only get out on their rib every few weekends. it must have been a great experiance to put there boat to work and see what its realy capable of .

and i enjoyed not being able to open the throttle , it made a real change to pooltle up and down , who says 300hp yammies are not ecomomic

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by tcwozere

It was funny going through the harbour entrance watching him go back and forth as he tried to catch the ones going the fastest.. It was like putting a cat in a room with loads of meece, by the time the cat makes up its mind which one to go for, they have all legged it..

He then cut in front of us and dashed across to a large yacht that had tried to use the inner swashway at dead low water with predicable results. Unfortunately he drove round the back of the large RM rib trying to tow the yacht back into deep water and promptly got an ear full from said Royals as 3 tonnes of 28 foot rib with 400 hp reversed backwards.

Pete

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by tim griffin

Well done again to the Volunteers for putting your life on the line for Queen and Country. ..........

We weren’t that brave we gave all the Dows a wide berth Des

[DJL]

Originally Posted by Mark Halliday

Hi Daniel
Thats us in the photo. Was it us you were refering to?

Sorry Mark - no not at all. I forgot to caption the photo.