East Coast Diary

[Antares_9]

Yes it was fun Jonny, not having far to go, about 7 miles or so and in a direction that you know conditions can only improve makes it even more fun. As it was we were the only ones that went to the club “do†by boat on Saturday, three others went on Friday night and the rest came by car.

[Guest]

The photo's are not very good as they are zoomed with a P&S I wished I had my proper gear to have done justice to Kingfisher kicking aside the chop. The distance I was away also flattened off the sea but it was a 'little' bit inclement for the rivers

That weather looks very.... unDavid. Still, nothing that Kingfisher isn't designed to handle and as he says, it's nice to know things are only going to get better.

Anyway, I thought Breydon was like that all the time, plus it has Krakens, so can't see what the problem is.

[pks1702]

Thanks for the inside track on the new Pilot Launches Rod and Goodchild. Having seen at first hand the attention to detail that Alan has you can be sure the new launches will be OK. He is not averse to having 'visitors' on the odd test run across Breydon or out of Yarmouth particularly if you are a pilot Having said that I guess you will have enough 'Taxi' rides in the future to worry about having a look.

It was blowing circa 30 -35 knots mid morning at Languard and the cranes over at Felixstowe stopped working around mid day which I believe happens when wind speed reaches 45mph. Having been for a look down the coast it was certainly a day for exiting Shotley to Port and not Starboard!

[Antares_9]

I see the Harbour Patrol Boat keeping a close eye on you in the first pic

Had to go quite a bit quicker than the 8knt limit to get the bows up and stop the greenies coming over the front Rod. Don't think the patrol boat was going to bother me as no wake I could have made would have been noticed in that lot.

[pks1702]

Shotley Point Yacht Club had put on a full day programme called 'Ask The Experts' which was very good with the exception of the Marine Electronics 'Expert' from a local Chandlery (I am sure you can guess but Vixen might be a clue ) who ought to be done under the trade description act

Presentations from:

National Coast Watch

http://www.nci.org.uk/

RNLI

HM Coastguard

Rounding the day off was a talk on flares and of course using them in anger We all hope never to but it is not the sort of thing you can practice. The RNLI had special dispensation to allow us to have a go

I felt sorry for a couple of visiting yachts entering the Marina and channel with Parachute Flares being fired over the top of them and hand helds & smoke being used on the shore the must have wondered what on earth was going on

Some very interesting stats from the RNLI but the most stunning to me was that in the last two years figures for the Harwich Station no rescue had been as a result of flares. With DSC now proving an excellent positional fix maybe the days of Parachute Flares are numbered.

Our offshore flares are out of date at the end of this year, instead of replacing them I am considering keeping them as back up but investing in a couple of these for Tina and I:

http://www.mcmurdo.co.uk/products/produ ... t_sector=1

They are small enough to be worn and as bonus if you do take a trip in the Ogin there is a chance of being located.

Flares rely on someone seeing it and then the right agency being alerted. In practice what often happens (and real life examples were given) is that a flare is seen by a member of public who dials 999, is not sure which service he should ask for so asks for the Police. The Police tend to send a patrol to see what resource is needed and then react wasting valuable time. If you phone 999 and ask for the Coastguard (which you can) they have all three 'normal services' at their disposal (Fire, Police, Ambulance) with the RNLI and Air SAR in addition.

A PLB taps straight into this system and therefore the time taken for action is almost certainly less than via a Flare unless reported to the Coastguard from another boat.

A very interesting day all in all.

[thirdmate]

Hi Perry

We use the raymarine MOB system.

Really good as they can be integrated with the nav systems so when button is hit for MOB lat/long is automatically logged

Check it out at:

http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/man-over ... 7707.bhtml

Andy

[Antares_9]

Perry and I have both looked at those with a view to linking them with our plotters Andy, but to be honest they do a completely different job, obviously they are great for alerting the skipper to a MOB and where the MOB happened but will not tell anybody else about the distress (unless I’ve read all the spec wrong and you can now get them to activate the GMDSS on the VHF too) Mini EPERBS and PLBs will inform the authorities that there is distress and not only tell them where the distress position was but will constantly keep them updated as to where the casualty has drifted to, an altogether different job.

[pks1702]

Yes that is the point I was going to make David - good for the cats if they would wear them

[pks1702]

Fast Find

[senator]

The fact that rescues nowadays are unlikely to be as a result of a flare was something I read recently and it started me thinking, I wonder how many times a flare has been the cause rather than the savior in an emergency.

By design they have the potential to be a dangerous item. how many other explosive devices would you be actively encouraged to take on board?

I saw something about laser flares which are in development but I guess they may be inefective in daylight and they still rely on interpritation.

It would seem though that the only time they are likely to be used is in the event of total power failure or to show a helicopter which way the wind is blowing.

maybe it is time flares were confined to the history books in favour of more effective electronic devices.

[pks1702]

It got me thinking on Saturday Ian which is why I will keep my flares as back up but invest in a couple of PLB's.

If flares are kept in their plastic container I don't think there are to many issues particularly if you put something in to stop them rattling about, but I would not be wanting to keep them loose. It is interesting to note that in France flares in date are legal but those out of date become illegal explosive devices work that out!

We were shown one of the Laser Flares on Saturday, they appear at an early stage but look interesting, MBM did a review on some a few months ago.

[pks1702]

Classic weather front weekend.

Saturday saw a front clearing leaving a calm muggy day (for the time of year).

In the early hours of this morning the Fog Horn at Languard sounded for an hour before a slight breeze got up and cleared it. The forecast storm arrived very quickly and between 5.00am average wind speeds increased from 5 knots and steadily built to 40. I felt sorry fro the pilot of the MSC Discovery who was on his way in with this container ship when the weather hit and he was pretty well committed to berthing in the inclement conditions. As ever the tugs were his friends and he sound pretty relived when it was tied up.

Shotley's view across the water to Felixstowe is seen by some as industrial but I quite like it. In last nights balmy temperature I went to take some photo's only to find my tripod does not fit the G11 and I had no adapter so these are not great as hand held and rested on objects I could find but you get the idea.

[pks1702]

Not a day to be a Pilot Rod

[pks1702]

I've compressed the images on the night shots as on a smaller screen they don't display as they should - better get those click-able links sorted!

Rod I know you don't have much choice on the weather but was making the point that yesterday morning was clearly challenging. Wave height had built very quickly and was pushing 3mtrs by 9.30 that coupled with the wind strength clearly gave the pilot a few hairy moments but it was all sorted OK, amazing what you hear on VTS

[pks1702]

In the 35-40knots when the one of the Tugs responded to the Pilot with "Good Morning ......." and got the reply "well it is morning" told its tale.

[pks1702]

SWMBO is a trooper and agreed to a quick couple day dash to the boat - not bad 10 days after being in intensive care!

A very enjoyable evening in The Shipwreck where we caught up with the crew of Kingfisher who had only been on their ship since Christmas Eve

As usual Harwich provided the midnight pyrotechnic entertainment which went on for over 15 minutes - not bad when London only managed 9 minutes. The view from Shotley is excellent and can be viewed from the Shipwreck so no drinking time is lost

New Years Day and there was no sign of Good King Wenceslas but it was a day made for him

A couple of yachts had used their masts as Christmas Trees some very 'Gay' Blue lights on display

[mbird]

Glad to hear SWMBO is feeling well enough for boaty stuff!

A couple of great photos there too

[pks1702]

Thanks Mark, a quick dash down but no less enjoyable.

[Guest chriscraft]

hi,

can i say abso;utly superb pictures,glad to here your crew is on the mend!

[pks1702]

Thanks Chris very kind.

Some people think the view is industrial, I can see why but at night it is pretty spectacular.

I had intended to get a couple of shots of Shotley & Felixstowe with the moon in the background but a bank of fog came quickly up river!

Here is an earlier one.

BTW I can now place your boat which we used to look across at when moored at Goodchild.

[pks1702]

About 20 seconds of the 15 minutes of Fireworks.

You can see the Port & Starboard marks for the Marina channel flashing in the foreground.

[senator]

Hi Perry and Tina and a happy new year, hope this one brings good news on the health front.

Sorry to hear Tina was so bad on the run up but glad to hear she was well enough to make the New Year celibrations.

Ian and Heather

[pks1702]

Thanks Ian a big operation but all positive and in the right direction, hopefully two smaller ones to go and by mid year that will be her done - he says fingers crossed.

Talking of New Years celebrations I could not help but notice the new line in Life Jackets you appeared to modelling at WRC on New Years Eve, look forward to seeing you donning that when out with the 'Salty Bottoms'

[mbird]

I could not help but notice the new line in Life Jackets you appeared to modelling at WRC on New Years Eve

No Perry, you are mistaken. They were airbags incase he fell on the ice whilst ashore.

[pks1702]

As mentioned earlier in this thread viewtopic.php?f=37&t=2948&p=82196&hilit=plb#p82196

We had the intention of supplementing our soon to be out of days Flares with a pair of PLB's. While my back was turned at the Boat Show Mr Antares had feigned shock and horror with our man at Mailspeed and before I knew it a very good deal had been done on a pair each of Fast Find 210's

I won't repeat the West Marine video posted in the link above but the cost of one of these is about what a set of Offshore Flares would be.

Not Fast Find but a bit of background to PLB's in this case the ACR model is featured but principals are the same.