Rescue 116 callout

HeidiHeidi

From my FB feed earlier this evening....
Rescue 116
At 14.54 today R-116 was tasked by NMOC to assist a yacht that had issued a Mayday call on ch 16. The yacht had run aground on the North-East side of Lambay with 1 person on board. R-116 launched within 10 minutes land was on scene within 5 minutes. As the vessel/casualty was in no immediate danger, R-116 elected to standby, ready to offer immediate assistance if required, while Skerries ILB made its way to the scene. The lifeboat towed the yacht to safety and R-116 stood down and returned to base.

Firstly - 100% thanks and well done to R116 for responding - first class service as always.

But.... am I wrong in thinking a "mayday" call was the incorrect one in this case? I know I wasn't there, and it must be a bloody scary thing to be alone on a boat that's in trouble.... but on the face of it, there were no problems bar it being aground (I've been there, and it's mortifying but hardly life threatening). The weather today is as benign as it has been in a long time.

Would a "pan-pan" (or indeed a simple radio call to the coastguard) have been more appropriate - it might not have necessitated the lifting of the chopper and all the (presumably sky-high, pardon the pun) associated costs?

It's an honest question, I'm not trying to stir the **** here, or blame the yachtsman (like I say, I wasn't there and don't know the full circumstances) - I have a VHF cert, and I know it's a grey area where you draw the line.

What think my fellow boaters?

breghall

IMO,

PAN PAN

should have been the call.

fergal.b

I think he made the right call as he had run aground things can change very quickly when you are sitting on rocks even if you feel your life is not in danger it soon could be. PAN PAN means "possible assistance needed" and lets other boats know that a vessel has a problem but is not in distress and does not need assistance yet as they think they can fix the problem before the loss of life or the loss of the boat. R-116 would have heard the call and made there decision to launch based on that, expensive callout yes, but justified in my opinion.

Well done to all involved.



.

Trotter

As far as I know, CHC (The company that supply our coast guard heli ops) are contracted to fly X amount of hours regardless so if they hadn't responded to that call, they'd use the hours for training. I'm pretty sure there's no associated 'cost' associated with a callout because the flying hours are already contracted. In that sense, if a person in the situation they're in believes that a mayday is the correct call at the time, then that's the decision. It's important that people realise the helicopter is there for use and are not reluctant to call it in where a person in their own circumstances feels it is needed. It costs the state or the person nothing extra on top of what is already paid to CHC as far as I'm aware.

breghall

fergal.b wrote: »

I think he made the right call as he had run aground things can change very quickly when you are sitting on rocks even if you feel your life is not in danger it soon could be. PAN PAN means "possible assistance needed" and lets other boats know that a vessel has a problem but is not in distress and does not need assistance yet as they think they can fix the problem before the loss of life or the loss of the boat. R-116 would have heard the call and made there decision to launch based on that, expensive callout yes, but justified in my opinion.

Well done to all involved.



.

all I'm saying is that I believe MAYDAY calls are for imminent danger and/or serious health issues,

not knowing all the facts or doubting the skipper but from what i read here PAN PAN would have been my call, not life threatening but need assistance.

But thankfully all ended without another loss of life in or around our shores.

Pigeon Reaper

Running aground can go from touching a mud bank to hitting rocks and being pounded off them in a swell. 116 will not winch if it can be avoided as winching can be a dangerous operation in certain conditions that is best avoided if possible which may also explain why the tow was undertaken with the lifeboat. You will notice that 116 still stood by until the situation was under control.
If the extent of damage to a boat is unknown a mayday is the more prudent course of action.
If you know the boat isn't in current danger but this may change with time then a pan pan is better.
If there's no threat of danger then just call the coast guard and tell them your circumstances and that the situation is under control. This will avoid rescue services coming to you if they get a call from the public.
In this particular case you'll need to ask the yachtsman for full detail.

neris

The ne side of lambay is quite rocky and with one person on the boat there was probably very little he could do and would be in more danger of somthing going wrong alot quicker. Also when your alone im sure you panic a little more quickly then with 2 or more and less time to asses or observe the situation clearly.

cbreeze

breghall wrote: »

IMO,

PAN PAN

should have been the call.

That would be correct - the PAN PAN can always be escalated. At that time on the day in question the tide was on on the turn which would leave the casualty at risk of settling or falling over onto rock. NE Lambay has no beaches.

fergal.b

cbreeze wrote: »

That would be correct - the PAN PAN can always be escalated. At that time on the day in question the tide was on on the turn which would leave the casualty at risk of settling or falling over onto rock. NE Lambay has no beaches.

PAN-PAN can't always be escalated especially when you are on the rocks, the call you make could be the last one you make be it water damage to the radio a bang on the head or been flipped out of the boat when the keel hits the bottom.

Daibheid

On the face of it I'd have said a PAN PAN but presumably he was in mortal fear and it's astonishing how fast a boat can be reduced to matchwood or pulp when grounded and pounded.

I think the most important thing here was that he made a distress call and made it in plenty of time. Too many of us hesitate for fear of embarrassment/cost etc and sometimes there's only a very short window of opportunity. It doesn't sound like there was any passing traffic close enough to assist either so better sure than drowned.

The point by Trotter about a minimum number of flying hours to be carried out anyway is valid and should encourage people to make a distress call without hesitation because of cost considerations. However, those helos burn fuel at an eye-watering rate and it would be unfortunate if someone failed to exercise judgement and had the chopper tasked to the one extreme of its patch when a serious emergency arose at the other end.......