Mayday call off Coromandel

[Fish 0]

I couldn't hear my HH VHF when communicating with a boat 50 m away in 5 knts on Sunday. Luckily my main set was fine, and all I was doing was checking in for a race.

I rather imagine when he got to Bream Bay he needed a sleep...

The main point is his perspective at the time. He clearly had a bit on. He was concerned for his inexperienced crew and his boat. I suspect that not hearing any response to his mayday, his psychology changed and he just got on with sailing the boat / dealing with it.

The authorities have been very careful not to criticise, and in every news story highlight the fact that it is far far better to call for help, and cancel it if the situation changes / improves.

On the VHF thing, there is a good chance he had a main VHF downstairs, but if he was stuck in the Colville Channel and couldn't leave the helm, simply could not get to it. It may have been something as simple as that. Yes, lessons learnt could be valuable, but you have to do them in such a way as to not ostracise people. If that happens, people become very reluctant to call for help, and you risk fatalities. The alternative is wasted time and money, or in another view, a proper training session for SAR.

[harrytom 558]

4 hours ago, KM... said:

aviate - navigate - communicate

Keep the craft safely flying first and foremost, then ensure you don't fly into a hill or run out of gas before you get on the ground, only then do you ring Uber Eats or tell someone your wing has fallen off.

We dont know or will ever know if he was under pressure from crew to do something,or crew adopt the attitude you got us in to this you get us out.

[waikiore 299]

Hmmm a Mayday is not a Pan Pan and you are either sinking or not, sounds like two Numpties go out on a boat , and the Maritime boys are not allowed to say that.

[Addem 57]

We were at the Mercs over January and the Westpac helicopter come over and buzzed the bay.  Listening to ch16 revealed a boat had set its epirb  off but merely thought it was a low battery warning. 
 

yep, numpties abound. 

[Dtwo 156]

I am surprised that the "8m seas" weren't reported by Metservice.  East coast surf must be going off!  Or....?

[Fish 0]

2 hours ago, Dtwo said:

I am surprised that the "8m seas" weren't reported by Metservice.  East coast surf must be going off!  Or....?

More likely wind over tide in Colville Channel. I really didn't think the weather was that bad over that time period. Blowey easterly, but not a lot else.

[wheels 543]

I usually always find inexperienced sailors way over estimate wave height. Even with NZ waters/tides/wind, it is very rare to get 8m seas. It is truly sobering to be in 5 to 6m and I can say that from experience having been in wrong place wron tide time off Wellington. You wonder how water can defy such logic of standing that high and they make you feel very small, even in a 45ft boat.

[JK 28]

I'd taken the dog on Matarangi beach around the time the mayday was put out. I was surprised when I heard of the mayday as the weather was OK, Easterly 15knots maybe 20, not so much it bothered you on the beach. It was an Easterly & no way in hell it was 8m, I would have noticed when throwing a ball in the surf for the dog! Maybe 1.5m out to the Mercs. It did get up overnight though.

[Dtwo 156]

4 hours ago, wheels said:

I usually always find inexperienced sailors way over estimate wave height. Even with NZ waters/tides/wind, it is very rare to get 8m seas. It is truly sobering to be in 5 to 6m and I can say that from experience having been in wrong place wron tide time off Wellington. You wonder how water can defy such logic of standing that high and they make you feel very small, even in a 45ft boat.

8m is getting truly Biblical....

[DrWatson 311]

14 hours ago, JK said:

I'd taken the dog on Matarangi beach around the time the mayday was put out. I was surprised when I heard of the mayday as the weather was OK, Easterly 15knots maybe 20, not so much it bothered you on the beach. It was an Easterly & no way in hell it was 8m, I would have noticed when throwing a ball in the surf for the dog! Maybe 1.5m out to the Mercs. It did get up overnight though.

I understood the mayday was broadcast late at night?

 

[wheels 543]

6.30PM I think it was.
Rescue services went out to look but could not find them around Waiheke. I can understand a wrong LL number putting them in the wrong position. Making that mistake not so much. But draw a straight line through Coromandle to Whangarei puts the line close to Waiheke. So a wrong number could well place one further north.

 

[JK 28]

On 27/02/2021 at 9:17 AM, wheels said:

6.30PM I think it was.
Rescue services went out to look but could not find them around Waiheke. I can understand a wrong LL number putting them in the wrong position. Making that mistake not so much. But draw a straight line through Coromandle to Whangarei puts the line close to Waiheke. So a wrong number could well place one further north.

 

6:30pm was mentioned as the time, as was the East Coast of Coromandel Peninsula. A straight line from the East Coast of Coromandel to Whangarei would get no closer to Waiheke than Channel Island.